Drawn  by  F.   W.   Taylor 


DELAWARE  RIVER  BRIDGE  PIER 


Policies+Personnel=Publicity 


Waldo 


PUBLICITY  METHODS 
FOR  ENGINEERS 


PUBLICITY  METHODS 
FOR  ENGINEERS 


The  PROCEEDINGS  of  the  FIRST 
NATIONAL  CONFERENCE  ON 
PUBLIC  INFORMATION  held  under 
the  auspices  of  the  AMERICAN  ASSO- 
CIATION OF  ENGINEERS.  Edited 
and  amended  for  more  easy  reading. 


The  objects  of  the  Association  shall 
be  to  promote  the  social  and  economic 
welfare  of  the  engineer  and  to  stimu- 
late and  encourage  public  service  in 
the  engineering  profession. 


AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  OF  ENGINEERS 
63  EAST  ADAMS  STREET,  CHICAGO 


COPYRIGHT,  1922,  BY 

AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  OF  ENGINEERS 
First  Edition 


Eel.  Irxcowe 


•-.K^- 


HAMMOND    PRESS 

W.  B.  CONKCV  COMPANY 

CHICAGO 


PREFACE 

The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  make  plain  the 
principles  of  presenting  to  the  public  information 
about  engineers,  and  to  show  by  cases  how  this  is 
being  accomplished.  The  book  is  based  upon  pa- 
pers read  at  the  First  National  Engineering  Con- 
ference on  Public  Information  held  by  the  Ameri- 
can Association  of  Engineers  in  Chicago  in  1921. 
Every  man  who  presented  a  paper  was  a  recognized 
authority. 

In  these  days  of  general  knowledge  and  quick 
exchange  of  information,  public  opinion  influences 
most  undertakings  to  such  an  extent  that  without 
its  support  few  succeed,  while  none  can  withstand 
its  opposition.  The  best  public  servants  do  not 
allow  public  opinion  to  drift  in  direction  or  scope; 
they  mold  and  aggressively  direct  it  like  any  other 
energy  for  the  public  weal. 

With  methods  available,  each  must  discover  op- 
portunities. Take,  as  an  example,  the  engineer  in 
the  constantly  expanding  highway  program.  He  is 
charged  with  the  responsibility  as  manager  of  a  big 
public  business  involving  the  expenditure  of  proba- 
bly one  thousand  million  dollars  or  more  in  the  next 
few  years.  If  his  employer,  the  public,  is  to  be  fully 
served  it  must  have  a  sympathetic  understanding  of 
the  work.  At  every  opportunity,  therefore,  the  de- 
tail as  well  as  the  ensemble  of  the  huge  organiza- 
tion should  be  presented  to  the  public.  Every 

48.0330- 


PREFACE 

public  service  presents  measurably  equal  opportu- 
nities to  that  in  the  highway  field.  It  is  the  duty 
of  the  public  servant  to  report  to  his  employer  and 
keep  him  informed. 

The  excellent  educational  material  presented  at 
the  Conference  has  been  edited  to  eliminate  dupli- 
cation and  make  easy  reading  in  a  handbook.  This 
work  was  under  the  direction  of  C.  R.  Thomas,  who 
is  also  responsible  for  the  general  method  of  pre- 
sentation, part  of  Chapter  V,  Chapter  VI,  the  Ap- 
pendices, and  illustrating  and  printing  the  book. 
The  editing  for  duplication  and  detailed  arrange- 
ment is  the  work  of  C.  S.  Darling.  Acknowledg- 
ment is  also  made  to  Fire  and  Water  Engineering, 
Printers  Ink  Monthly  and  Railway  Age  for  the  use 
of  illustrations  on  advertising. 

It  is  a  privilege  to  express  here  the  gratitude  of 
those  who  use  this  book  to  all  who  have  contributed 
without  thought  of  pay  other  than  that  arising 
from  the  satisfaction  of  having  rendered  a  public 
service. 

C.  E.  DRAYER,  D.  Sc. 
Secretary,  American  Association  of  Engineers. 

Chicago,  Illinois, 
February  i,  1922. 


VI 


The  First  National  Engineering  Con- 
ference on  Public  Information 

The  First  National  Engineering  Conference  on 
Public  Information  was  held  under  the  auspices  of 
the  American  Association  of  Engineers  in  Chicago, 
Illinois,  on  February  25,  1921,  at  the  Congress 
Hotel. 

Papers  and  discussion  presented  at  this  Con- 
ference included  the  following: 


Some  Problems  Before  the  Engineer 

By  J.  G.  D.  Mack, 
State  Chief  Engineer  of  Wisconsin 

Graduate,  Rose  Polytechnic  Institute,  Mechanical  En- 
gineering, 1887;  M.  E.,  Cornell,  1888;  General  engineer- 
ing practice,  1888-93;  Instructor,  College  of  Engineering, 
University  of  Wisconsin,  1893-95;  Assistant  Professor, 
Machine  Design,  1895-1903 ;  Professor,  Machine  Design, 
1903-1915;  Mechanical  Engineer,  Railroad  Commission 
of  Wisconsin,  1903-1912;  made  first  valuation  railroad 
rolling  stock,  tools,  and  equipment  in  Wisconsin,  1903-04. 
Later  general  public  utilities  valuation;  State  Chief 
Engineer,  Wisconsin  State  Department  of  Engineering 
in  charge  of  all  State  engineering  and  architectural  work 
since  1915;  Member  and  Secretary,  Wisconsin  Deep 
Water  Ways  Commission;  Director,  National  Rivers 
and  Harbors  Congress;  Member,  Minnesota-Wisconsin 
Boundary  Line  Commission.  Member  A.  S.  M.  E. 
VII 


PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

A  National  Program  of  Public  Information 

By  W.  W.  DeBerard, 
Western  Editor,  Engineering  News-Record 

For  twelve  years  western  editor,  Engineering  Record 
and  Engineering  News-Record,  and  in  touch  with  en- 
gineering development  throughout  the  Middle  West. 
Graduate  in  chemistry,  Beloit  College,  and  in  sanitary 
engineering,  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. 
Engaged  on  water  supply  work  and  sanitary  work  for 
ten  years  prior  to  entering  editorial  work,  including 
work  in  the  city  of  Oakland,  California;  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania;  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania;  Columbus, 
Ohio;  and  Denver,  Colorado;  and  on  the  Metropolitan 
Sewerage  Commission  of  New  York,  New  York.  Mr. 
DeBerard  is  a  member  of  several  engineering  societies. 

The  Meaning  and  Purpose  of  Publicity 

By  Ivy  L.  Lee, 
Adviser  in  Public  Relations  to  the  Pennsylvania 

Railroad  and  Other  Interests 

Adviser  in  public  relations.  Has  been  actively  en- 
gaged in  public  information  and  relations  work  since 
1903,  including  work  for  the  Anthracite  Coal  Oper- 
ators, Pennsylvania  Railroad,  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Red 
Cross  Council,  Interborough  Rapid  Transit,  and  as 
European  Manager  for  Harris  Winthrop  &  Co.,  bank- 
ers. Now  in  organization  of  Ivy  L.  Lee  &  Associates, 
61  Broadway,  New  York.  Has  written  much  on  eco- 
nomic subjects  and  was  lecturer  in  the  London  (Eng- 
land) School  of  Economics. 

Making  Publicity  Out  of  Policies 

By  Richard  H.  Waldo, 

Publisher  of  Hearst's  International,  New  York 

Formerly  business  manager  of  Good  Housekeeping; 

secretary  and  associate  general  manager  of  the  New 

York  Tribune.    Two  years  with  the  A.  E.  F.  as  War 

Risk   Insurance    Officer,   London,   England.     Business 

Viil 


FIRST  NATIONAL  CONFERENCE 

Manager,  Stars  and  Stripes,  Paris.  Captain  Co.  I,  iiith 
Infantry,  28th  Division.  Secretary,  Inter-Allied  Games 
Committee,  Paris.  Recently  adviser  on  publishing  and 
publicity  matters,  including  the  Inter-Racial  Council, 
Associated  General  Contractors,  and  Cleveland  Indus- 
trial Association. 

The  Public  Debt  to  the  Engineer 

By  F.  M.  Feiker, 

Assistant  to  the  Secretary  of  Commerce, 
U.  S.  Department  of  Commerce 

Graduated  Worcester  Polytechnic  Institute  in  1904. 
Served  the  General  Electric  Company  as  technical 
journalist  and  later  joined  the  A.  W.  Shaw  Company 
in  Chicago,  where  he  developed  Factory  Magazine  and 
later  became  chairman  of  the  editorial  board  of  all 
the  A.  W.  Shaw  Publications.  He  joined  the  McGraw- 
Hill  publications  in  New  York  in  1915,  as  editor  of 
Electrical  World  and  later  established  Electrical  Mer- 
chandising. Later  he  was  made  chairman  of  the  board 
of  editors  of  the  thirteen  publications  of  the  Mc- 
Graw-Hill Company  and  then  vice-president.  He  is 
a  member  of  numerous  technical  societies. 

Ambassadors  to   His  Majesty  the  Public — Publicity 
Organization  and  Methods 

By  C.  R.  Thomas, 

In  charge  of  Public  Information  and  Professional 
Engineer,  American  Association  of  Engineers 

Entered  engineering  promotional  work  with  the  U. 
S.  Bureau  of  Public  Roads.  Research  engineer  and 
teacher  of  engineering  at  Pennsylvania  State  College 
and  North  Carolina  State  College.  Associate  editor  of 
Engineering  and  Contracting.  Editorial  director  and 
first  editor  of  Successful  Methods.  Later  Cleveland 
advertising  manager,  Manufacturers*  Publicity  Bureau. 
In  charge  of  review  and  publication  of  results,  U.  S. 
Forest  Products  Laboratory.  Contributor  to  general 
magazines. 

IX 


PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

The  Difference  Between  Publicity  and  News 

By  Harvey  V.  Deuell, 
Day  City  Editor,  The  Chicago  Tribune 

Born  in  Brooklyn,  New  York.  Has  been  engaged  in 
newspaper  business  for  about  ten  years  in  Denver  and 
Chicago.  At  present  day  city  editor  of  The  Chicago 
Tribune. 

Engineering  Information  Service  in  Iowa 

By  R.  W.  Crum, 

Engineer  of  Materials  and  Tests,  Iowa  State 
Highway  Department 

Graduated  in  engineering  from  Iowa  State  College 
in  1907  and  entered  professional  civil  engineering  work 
with  the  Pennsylvania  Lines  in  1907.  The  following 
year  he  became  associate  professor  in  charge  of  the 
testing  laboratories  at  Iowa  State  College  and  con- 
tinued in  this  work  until  1919,  when  he  was  appointed 
engineer  of  materials  and  tests,  Iowa  Highway  Com- 
mission, in  charge  of  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  use 
of  materials  in  work  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  high- 
way commission.  In  1908-09  he  engaged  in  private 
practice  in  general  civil  engineering. 

Public  Information  in  the  Municipal  Field 

By  S.  C.  Hadden, 
Editor  and  Publisher,  Municipal 
and  County  Engineering 

For  many  years  he  was  engaged  on  the  editorial  staff 
of  Engineering  and  Contracting  and  other  papers. 
Active  in  engineering  organization  work. 

The  Essentials  of  Popular  Scientific  Writing 

By  Alexander  Black, 
Editor,  King  Features  Service, 
New  York. 

Author  of  the  novels  "The  Great  Desire,"  and  "The 
Seventh  Angel,"  and  of  a  new  volume  of  essays,  "The 
x 


FIRST  NATIONAL  CONFERENCE 

Latest  Thing,  and  Other  Things" ;  a  newspaper  editor 
for  forty  years,  particularly  in  the  Sunday  feature 
field.  Now  editor  of  King  Features  Service  which 
serves  hundreds  of  newspapers  from  coast  to  coast. 
Born  in  New  York  City,  which  has  been  the  scene 
of  most  of  his  novels  and  of  all  his  newspaper 
activities.  Known  as  "the  grandfather  of  the  picture 
play"  from  the  circumstance  of  his  having  written, 
photographed  and  produced  the  first  drama  for  the 
screen  in  1894,  before  the  advent  of  the  motion  picture. 


Making  Easy  Reading  of  Engineering  Subjects 

By  C.  S.  Darling, 
Editor,  Rock  Products 

B.  S.  in  Civil  Engineering,  Worcester  Polytechnic 
Institute.  With  editorial  staff  of  Factory,  A.  W. 
Shaw  Company,  Chicago,  since  July  9,  1917,  except 
during  the  period  of  the  War  when  he  rose  from  the 
rank  of  private  to  captain  in  the  Corps  of  Engineers 
in  France.  Managing  editor  of  Factory  from  July, 
1920,  to  February,  1922.  Editor,  Rock  Products. 


The  Value  to  a  Young  Engineer  of  Technical  and 
Engineering  Press  Contributions 

By  C.  A.  Tupper, 
President,  International  Trade  Press,  Chicago 

Consulting  engineer  and  publisher  of  various  engi- 
neering journals.  After  finishing  courses  in  mining, 
mechanical,  and  electrical  engineering  was  engaged  in 
field  work  and  identified  with  large  machinery  manu- 
facturing interests  for  twenty  years,  during  which  he 
travelled  and  worked  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  In  1911 
he  was  made  secretary  of  the  Penton  Publishing  Com- 
pany and  later  became  president  of  the  International 
Trade  Press  of  Chicago. 
XI 


PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

What  Publicity  Does  for  the  Chapter 

By  R.  C.  Bailey, 

Assistant  Secretary,  American  Association 
of  Engineers 

Mechanical  and  electrical  engineer  with  over  twenty 
years'  experience  in  steam  power  plant  design  and  in- 
dustrial plant  work  in  eastern  United  States.  During 
the  war  was  Expert  Aide  in  the  New  York  Navy  Yard 
and  later  was  president  of  the  Navy  Technical  Associa- 
tion. Joined  the  staff  of  the  American  Association  of 
Engineers  in  1919  and  became  in  succession,  District 
Secretary,  Assistant  Secretary,  and  Office  Manager  of 
the  National  Office. 

Local  Publicity  Methods 

By  Cedric  B.  Smith, 
Advertising  Manager,   Chicago 
Bridge  and  Iron  Works 

Born  in  Monticello,  Iowa,  employed  on  engineering 
work  with  Oregon  Trunk,  Great  Northern,  and  Chicago 
Great  Western  Railroads.  University  of  Minnesota, 
B.  A.,  1914,  B.  S.  in  E.,  1915.  Various  engineering 
positions,  1915,  1916,  1917  with  Commerce  Commission 
and  Pennsylvania  Lines.  First  Lieutenant,  U.  S.  Army, 
1917-1918.  Editor,  Professional  Engineer,  and  on  pro- 
motional work  for  American  Association  of  Engineers, 
1919-1920. 

Teaching    Engineering    Journalism    at    Iowa    State 
College 

By  H.  E.  Pride, 

Bulletin   Editor,   Iowa  Engineering 
Experiment  Station 

Graduated  in  engineering  at  Iowa  State  College  and 
served  as  an  instructor  in  Officers'  Training  Camps, 
reaching  the  rank  of  Captain,  Coast  Artillery.  After 
a  short  period  as  assistant  to  the  president,  Lock  Joint 
Pipe  Company,  he  returned  to  Iowa  to  assist  in  estab- 
lishing instruction  in  journalism  for  engineering  stu- 
dents at  Iowa  State  College. 

XII 


FIRST  NATIONAL  CONFERENCE 

Typical  Engineering  Publicity 

By  C.  E.  Drayer, 
Secretary,  American  Association  of  Engineers 

Pioneer  in  engineering  organization  and  engineering 
publicity.  Organized  Committee  on  Cooperation,  made 
up  of  local,  state  and  national  engineering  societies. 
Secretary,  Cleveland  Engineering  Society,  and  co-editor 
of  "Engineering  as  a  Career."  Became  secretary  of 
the  American  Association  of  Engineers  in  1918. 
Awarded  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Science  by  Ohio 
Northern  University  for  public  service.  Graduated 
from  Western  Reserve  University  and  held  various 
engineering  positions  in  railroad  service  before  taking 
up  engineering  organization  work. 

Educating  the  Public  About  Engineering  Work 

By  F.  H.  Newell, 
Consulting  Engineer,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Graduate  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  1885. 
Engaged  in  mining  and  miscellaneous  engineering  for 
several  years,  and  then  with  the  U.  S.  Geological  Sur- 
vey 1888  until  1907  when  he  became  the  first  director 
of  the  U.  S.  Reclamation  Service  and  served  in  that 
capacity  for  seven  years.  Professor  of  civil  engineer- 
ing, University  of  Illinois,  1914-19.  President,  Amer- 
ican Association  of  Engineers,  1919-20,  during  period 
when  the  membership  increased  from  4,000  to  18,000. 
Member  of  numerous  technical  societies,  the  author  of 
many  books,  and  has  served  in  advisory  capacity  for 
important  commissions. 


XIII 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    SOME  REASONS  FOR  PUBLICITY *      I 

Do  Something— Then  Tell  About  It. 
Engineers  Have  "Done  Something." 
The  Difference  Between  Publicity  and  No 

Publicity. 

What  Publicity  Will  Do  for  Engineers. 
How  Greater  .Service  Results. 
Where  the  Economic  Side  Enters. 
Correcting  Wrong  Impressions. 
A  Counter-Fire  of  Publicity. 
Roosevelt's  Plan. 
How    Press    Contributions    Help    the    Young 

Engineer. 


II    THE  RIGHT  CONCEPTION  OF  PUBLICITY    ....    17 
Molding  Public  Opinion. 
Publicity,    Press    Agency,    Propaganda,    and 

Public  Information  Work. 
The  Place  of  Public  Information  Work. 
Public  Service  is  the  Basis  of  Public  Notice. 
The  Engineer's  Opportunity  for  Publicity. 
Information  Must  be  Valuable  and  Useful. 
The  Public's  Debt  to  the  Engineer. 
The  Difference  Between  Publicity  and  News. 
Pick  Real  News  in  Seeking  Newpaper  Publicity. 
An  Example  of  News  Value. 
Areas  of  Interest  in  Selecting  News. 
The  Editor  May  Know  More  About  His  Job 

Than  You  Do. 

XV 


PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

III    WAYS  AND  MEANS  THAT  BRING  PUBLICITY     .    .    35 

What  the  Public  Wants. 

Central  Publicity  Bureaus — National  and  Local. 

What  One  State  Organization  is  Doing. 

Some  Suggestions  from  Iowa's  Experience. 

Developing  Volunteer  Service. 

Many  Agencies  Are  Available. 

Do  Something— Then  Tell  About  It. 

Methods  in  Use. 

Mapping  Out  a  Campaign. 

The  Personal  Appeal. 

When  to  Begin. 

Publicity  for  Ideas,  Rather  than  for  Men. 

Publicity  from  Government  Bureaus. 

A  Clip  Sheet  for  Editors. 

What  a  Central  Publicity  Organization  Can  Do. 


IV    GETTING  NEWS  IN  THE  NEWSPAPERS 63 

The  Most  Important  Publicity  Medium. 
Learn  to  Write  Non-Technically. 
We  All  Speak  Two  Languages. 
Two  Kinds  of  Newspaper  Articles. 
Learning  to  Recognize  News  Value. 
How  to  Select  News. 
Write  So  John  Smith  Can  Understand. 
Picking  the  Points  of  News  Value. 
"Turning  the  News." 
How  Material  Gets  in  a  Newspaper. 
Areas  of  News  Interest. 
Remember  Your  Audience. 
The  Situation  of  the  Newspaper  Reader. 
To  Write  Interestingly. 
Say  It;  Don't  Write  It. 
Writing  a  Newspaper  Article. 
Steps  in  Building  the  Story. 
A  Good  Way  to  Construct  the  Story. 
XVI 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

How  to  Write  for  Magazines. 
Making    Interesting    Reading    of    Engineering 
Subjects. 


V    THE  PUBLICITY  MAN,  AND  WHAT  HE  NEEDS  TO 

KNOW 95 

Picking  the  Publicity  Man. 

The  Need  for  Voluntary  Effort. 

Some  Special  Jobs  for  the  Public  Information 
Man. 

Don't  Be  Too  Modest. 

Contacts  with  Civic  Organizations. 

Don't  Clog  the  Channels. 

Newspaper  Syndicates. 

Hints  on  Organization. 

Convention  Exhibits. 

Motion  Pictures. 

An  Educational  Motion  Picture  Syndicate. 

Stipulation  for  Free  Film  Service. 

Producing  Motion  Pictures. 

Suggestions  on  Exhibiting  Motion  Pictures. 

Operating  a  Speaker's  Bureau. 

Furnishing  Speakers  to  the  Public. 

Handling  Announcements. 

Committee  Memberships  in  Local  Organizations. 

Personal  Work  of  Organizers. 

Mass  Meetings. 

Receptions  to  Special  Groups. 

Technical  Methods. 

Service  Precedes  Publicity. 

The    Fundamental    Object — To    Improve    the    En- 
vironment in  Which  People  Live. 

VI    TYPICAL    PUBLICITY    PROBLEMS 123 

Engineers'  Week  in  a  Small  Town. 
Promoting  a  National  Highway. 
XVII 


PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Planning  a  Pageant  of  Progress. 
Campaign  for  Rehabilitating  a  City  Water  Sys- 
tem. 

Promoting  a  County  Bond  Issue. 
Developing  a  Local  Engineering  Society. 


APPENDIX  I 

SOME  APPROXIMATE  COSTS  FOR  ESTIMATING    ....  163 

The  costs  given  here  are  those  existing  in  Chicago, 
Illinois,  in  January,  1922;  they  are  approximate  and 
should  only  be  used  for  rough  estimating. 

1.  Addressing  and  Typewriting  Costs. 

2.  Folding  and  Mailing. 

3.  Multigraphing. 

4.  Mimeographing, 

5.  Some  Typical  Job  Printing  Costs. 


APPENDIX  II 

A  BRIEF  OUTLINE  OF  A  WORKING  PLAN  FOR  PUBLIC  IN- 
FORMATION TO  BROADEN  THE  FIELD  OF  ENGINEERING 
WORK  167 

RESEARCH  INFORMATION  SERVICE  .  187 


XVIII 


PUBLICITY  METHODS 
FOR  ENGINEERS 


CHAPTER  I 

SOME  REASONS  FOR  PUBLICITY 

Do  Something— Then  Tell  About  It.  Where 
there  is  public  service  public  notice  may  be  ex- 
pected to  follow.  Do  something — then  tell  about 
it.  That  is  a  rule  for  publicity  which  applies  to 
engineers  and  to  everyone  else.  Without  first 
doing  something — not  necessarily  something  un- 
usual or  out  of  the  ordinary,  but  anything  which 
affects  the  lives  of  other  people  and  about  which 
they  will  be  interested  to  hear — there  can  be  no 
effective  spreading  of  information  to  the  dozens  or 
thousands  or  millions  who  form  the  particular  part 
of  the  "public"  to  whom  the  information  may  be 
valuable.  A  scientist  discovers  a  cure  for  cancer, 
the  American  First  Army  takes  St.  Mihiel,  a  new 
bridge  is  planned  south  of  town,  and  there  is 
publicity,  by  word  of  mouth,  by  newspapers,  by 
magazines,  by  motion  pictures,  and  by  numerous 
other  mediums.  The  publicity  from  paid  advertis- 
ing also  is  preceded  by  something  done — something 
made  or  planned  for  sale,  or  some  achievement 
whose  telling  will  bring  profit,  prestige,  or  other 
advantage  to  him  who  tells  it. 

Engineers  Have  "Done  Something."  Every 
day  men  come  in  direct  contact  with  engineering 
achievements.  They  drink  the  water  that  engineers 
have  brought  to  their  doors,  they  ride  in  the  rail- 


2  *  ^ PUBLICITY'  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEER^ 

roads  that  engineering  genius  has  created,  they 
cross  over  or  beneath  rivers  on  paths  which  en- 
gineers have  built  for  them,  they  exist  and  grow 
rich  by  trade  in  the  metals  and  materials  which 
engineering  labors  have  wrested  from  the  bowels 
of  the  earth. 

There  is  no  lack  of  the  "do  something"  require- 
ments of  our  publicity  rule;  what  remains  is  to 
tell  about  it. 

One  reason  so  few  engineers  tell  about  their 
work  in  a  way  that  gives  the  telling  a  real  pub- 
licity value  is  that  they  haven't  seen  how  much 
good  can  result  to  themselves,  to  the  people  with 
whom  they  are  associated,  and  to  everyone  in  gen- 
eral, from  such  publicity. 

The  Difference  Between  Publicity  and  No  Pub- 
licity. When  the  Norsemen  discovered  America, 
they  had  no  compass.  Yet  the  compass  had  been 
discovered  by  the  Chinese  thousands  of  years  be- 
fore. 

When,  however,  Mme.  Curie  discovered  'radi- 
um, the  knowledge  of  her  achievement  was  spread 
throughout  the  world  as  rapidly  as  cables  and  wires 
could  carry  it.  Mme.  Curie's  work  would  have 
been  of  no  value  to  the  world  at  large  if  the 
knowledge  of  her  discovery  had  remained  with 
her  alone. 

The  difference  between  those  earlier  times  and 
these  is  the  difference  largely  of  ways  and  means 
of  publicity.  No  engineering  work  need  be  un- 
known today.  The  material  is  at  hand.  Sound 
principles  are  clear.  It  is  only  a  matter  of  going 
at  it. 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  PUBLICITY  3 

Through  publicity  the  engineer  can  increase  his 
usefulness,  just  as  publicity  has  increased  the  use- 
fulness of  radium  to  the  world. 

What  Publicity  Will  Do  for  Engineers.  The 
objects  of  the  American  Association  of  Engineers 
are  "to  promote  the  social  and  economic  welfare 
of  the  engineer  and  to  stimulate  and  encourage 
public  service  in  the  engineering  profession/* 

What  has  publicity  to  do  with  the  achievement 
of  these  objects? 

Publicity  gets  things  done  by  carrying  a  truth- 
ful message  to  the  mass  of  the  people.  It  lines  up 
public  sentiment  on  the  side  of  the  right  by  show- 
ing the  inwardness  of  great  questions  on  which, 
without  publicity,  the  people  would  not  be  well 
informed.  It  gets  people  behind  constructive  busi- 
ness, philanthropic,  and  moral  movements;  it 
brings  enlightenment  on  great  public  questions, 
and  it  is  the  most  dreaded  of  all  forces  by  the  evil 
doer  and  the  criminal. 

It  was  not  so  many  years  ago  that  public 
utility  corporations  such  as  railroads,  traction  lines, 
gas,  electric  light,  and  telephone  companies  were 
targets  of  almost  universal  condemnation  wherever 
they  operated.  Today  the  public  has  a  much 
better  idea  of  public  utility  corporations.  We  do 
not  find  them  universally  condemned.  People  have 
a  clearer  understanding  of  their  problems,  and  this 
understanding  has  been  brought  about  through  a 
changed  policy  of  dealing  with  the  public,  the  basis 
of  which  has  been  public  service  adequately  re- 
ported through  publicity. 


4  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

How  Greater  Service  Results.  When  an  engi- 
neer first  hears  someone  speak  of  publicity,  he 
often  sees  no  other  purpose  for  having  engineering 
events  and  news  of  engineers  chronicled  in  the 
press  than  the  pleasure  of  getting  one's  name  in 
the  paper.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  reasons  for 
obtaining  publicity  are  just  as  definite  and  sub- 
stantial as  for  maintaining  an  employment  service. 
A  simple  definition  of  publicity  is  this: 

Engineering  publicity  is  anything  concerning  engi- 
neers or  engineering  which  is  brought  to  the  attention 
of  the  public. 

Publicity  is  actually  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
the  broader  view  of  advertising — we  all  know  the 
value  of  advertising.  "Eventually — why  not  now" 
spells  Gold  Medal  Flour  to  nine  men  out  of  ten, 
Grape  Nuts  means  breakfast  food  to  almost  every- 
one. These  names  and  expressions  have  been 
developed  through  advertising.  If  the  American 
Association  of  Engineers  had  for  sale  a  breakfast 
food  it  would  be  unable  to  market  its  product  in 
sufficient  quantities  to  make  the  project  a  paying 
one  without  a  strong  campaign  of  advertising. 
The  Association  does  not  have  a  breakfast  food 
for  sale,  but  it  has  some  other  things  far  more  im- 
portant to  mankind. 

In  the  first  place,  there  are  services  to  sell — the 
services  of  every  individual  engineer  and  of  engi- 
neers in  general.  Publicity  will  enhance  the  value 
of  these  services.  We  expect  the  profession  to  ac- 
complish considerable  good  in  legislative  matters 
and  in  politics.  It  is  obvious  that  the  better  known 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  PUBLICITY  5 

the  local  engineering  organizations  are  in  the  eyes 
of  other  citizens  the  more  force  will  the  organiza- 
tions and  the  individual  engineers  have  in  politics. 
To  aid  this  work,  it  is  necessary  to  build  up  a  repu- 


Profit  and  Loss  in  Street  Widening 


Shortening  a  lot  10  feet 
reduces  value  as  follows 


Street  66  feet  wide 


Widening  the  street  10  feet 
on  each  side : 


Street  66  feet  wide 


-!?- 

zoo1 

M 

\l<j 

100' 

Lot 

Lot 

Lot 

Lot 

0.6% 

1.7% 

3.% 

4.4  x. 

Increases 
Value  of  alllots 
frbm  WXtoZOOx 


The  average  owner  can  give  the  land 
required  for  street  widening  and  reap 
10  fold  to  100  fold  profits  on  his  investment. 

jp 

Poster  used  in  a  city  zoning  campaign  in  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

tation — a  reputation  for  honesty,  high  ideals, 
vision,  common  sense,  patriotism,  unselfishness, 
scientific  knowledge,  ability  to  see  and  interpret 
properly  the  events  in  our  communities  which 
affect  men  in  general.  This  reputation  can  be  estab- 
lished in  the  public  mind  by  publicity. 


6  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

If  someone  asks  which  department  store  in  the 
United  States  enjoys  the  greatest  reputation  for 
fair  dealing,  for  a  high  standard  of  merchandise, 
and  an  almost  unquestioned  honesty  with  its  cus- 
tomers, eight  out  of  ten  in  nearly  any  gathering  of 
informed  men  name  Wanamaker's  of  Philadelphia 
and  New  York.  The  reputation  of  this  mercantile 
institution  was  built  up  not  alone  because  it  has 
been  conducted  with  the  highest  principles  of  fair 
dealing  between  a  merchant  and  his  customers, 
but  because  these  principles  of  fair  dealing  have 
been  emphasized  in  paid  advertising  and  through 
other  publicity. 

If  it  were  not  for  publicity  the  ideal  of  service 
which  John  Wanamaker  incorporated  in  his  little 
store  on  Chestnut  Street  would  be  known  only  to 
Philadelphians  and  only  a  limited  number  would 
have  been  able  to  take  advantage  of  his  service. 
Through  the  printed  word  his  reputation  has  ex- 
tended over  the  English  speaking  world. 

Without  publicity  the  American  Association  of 
Engineers  will  enjoy  a  limited  reputation  and  can 
perform  a  limited  service.  Through  publicity,  its 
underlying  motives,  its  practical  vision  of  the  ne- 
cessity for  professional  and  social  progress,  its 
capacity  for  service  to  the  individual,  to  the  pro- 
fession, to  the  country,  will  be  increased  many 
fold.  That  is  the  reason  for  publicity. 

Where  the  Economic  Side  Enters.  The  state- 
ment was  previously  made  that  engineers  have  to 
sell  their  services,  and  publicity  makes  evident  the 
value  of  these  services.  As  the  value  is  increased, 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  PUBLICITY  7 

so  will  the  individual  compensation  for  these  ser- 
vices be  augmented.  When  the  public  comes  to 
know  and  estimate  engineering  accomplishment  at 
its  true  value  to  society  the  economic  status  of  en- 
gineers will  become  fixed.  Whether  or  not  it  will 
stay  fixed  or  be  raised  will  depend  upon  how  the 
engineers  themselves  measure  up  to  their  oppor- 
tunities in  the  service  of  the  world.  The  first  part 
of  the  problem  is  to  inform  the  public  concerning 
the  processes  and  results  of  engineering  effort  so 
that  society  may  appraise  the  value  of  the  engi^ 
neer's  daily  work.  The  second  part  of  the  problem 
is  to  show  the  way  to  engineers  to  become  of  more 
value  to  society  by  applying  their  valuable  train- 
ing in  the  manifold  problems  of  civilized  life. 

While  the  value  of  strictly  engineering  accom- 
plishment is  probably  fixed  at  some  point  in  the 
sum  total  of  human  effort,  there  need  be  no  limit 
to  the  relative  place  engineers  themselves  may  at- 
tain in  this  sum  total. 

If  the  public  be  well  acquainted  with  the  back- 
ground of  the  engineer's  work  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  he  will  be  appraised  at  his  true  worth 
in  whatever  sphere  of  influence  his  activities  may 
occur. 

Correcting  Wrong  Impressions.  There  is  often 
a  need  in  engineering  publicity  work  for  more  than 
a  mere  educational  form  of  publicity.  Engineers 
are  frequently  attacked  when  they  are  in  municipal 
and  other  public  work  and  these  attacks  are  often 
partly  or  wholly  unjust. 

Proper  publicity  can  do  much  to  counteract  the 


8 


PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 


insidious  influence  which  is  so  often  found  in  many 
civic  organizations,  and  in  the  newspapers,  to  dis- 
credit engineers  in  municipal  work.  Many  who 


Iwaie* 


When  a  group  of  people  having  a  common  intereM 
live  in  the  ume  place  under  the  aame  law.  and  regula 

commute 


"Advertising  is  the  backbone  of  publicity/'    The  first  of  a  series 

of  educational  advertisements  inserted  in  California 

newspapers. 

belong  to  civic  organizations  and  serve  on  com- 
mittees know  that  insinuations  and  open  charges 
are  indulged  in  against  the  engineers  engaged  in 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  PUBLICITY  9 

public  work.  Yet  it  is  rare  that  an  engineer  en- 
gaged in  public  work  is  not  a  conscientious  worker 
and  doing  the  best  that  he  can  for  his  community, 
for  his  city,  the  state,  or  the  nation.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  opposite  impression  seems  to  be  abroad 
in  the  minds  of  the  public,  and  one  hears  frequent 
reference  to  inefficiency.  For  the  benefit  of  the 
engineering  profession  generally,  publicity  ought 
to  be  used  to  counteract  this  attempt  to  discredit 
engineers. 

No  doubt,  some  attacks  made  on  engineers  and 
the  somewhat  derogatory  remarks  about  them  are, 
to  some  extent,  justified.  The  fact  is  that  the  en- 
gineer in  public  employ,  spending  public  funds, 
does  not  always  appreciate  the  fact  that  it  is  his 
duty  to  his  employers,  the  taxpayers  he  is  working 
for,  to  get  results.  Moreover,  if  the  man  you  have 
working  for  you,  no  matter  how  good  he  may  be, 
does  not  report  in  language  that  you  can  under- 
stand, he  is  apt  to  be  fired  pretty  soon. 

A  Counter-Fire  of  Publicity.  Every  man  in  the 
public  employ,  and  every  young  engineer  doing 
public  work,  should,  as  an  early  part  of  his  educa- 
tion, learn  to  tell  his  employer  and  learn  to  tell  the 
people  who  pay  the  bills,  in  simple,  direct  lan- 
guage they  can  easily  understand,  what  he  is  do- 
ing. As  a  matter  of  policy  he  should  avoid  reply- 
ing to  attacks,  because  such  replies  magnify  the 
attacks;  but  rather  he  should  always  keep  burning 
a  counter-fire  on  what  he  has  done  and  is  doing 
and  proposes  to  do,  to  meet  the  attack  that  is 
bound  to  come,  and  will  come,  unless  he  does  make 
frequent  and  clear  statements. 


io  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

Dr.  F.  H.  Newell,  former  head  of  the  United 
States  Reclamation  Service,  said  he  was  nearly  always 
under  investigation  "for  graft,  corruption,  and  all 
sorts  of  deviltry,  but  I  always  had  a  man  hired  by 
the  year  to  put  the  contrary  story  out,  to  con- 
tinually present  to  the  press,  day  after  day,  ac- 
curate statements  of  what  had  been  done,  and  what 
we  were  doing,  simply  making  constructive  infor- 
mational statements  in  a  direct  and  positive  form, 
and  I  believe  the  expense  of  doing  that  has  been 
justified." 

Every  young  engineer  should  learn  the  fallacy 
of  the  assertion  taught  in  the  classes  that  "your 
work  speaks  for  itself."  Most  of  our  work  cannot 
speak  for  itself.  A  sewer  underground  may  be 
doing  magnificent  work,  may  be  the  result  of  a 
life's  effort,  and  yet  cannot  speak  for  itself.  The 
men  who  built  it  may  be  accused  of  grafting  on 
the  public,  because  the  public  doesn't  know  what 
the  thing  is. 

Perhaps  the  best  illustration  that  was  ever  given 
was  by  Theodore  Roosevelt,  when  he  dedicated  the 
Roosevelt  Dam.  Many  politicians  were  present 
and  made  glowing  speeches  about  the  wonderful 
climate,  the  great  state,  and  the  great  country. 
After  Roosevelt  had  listened,  he  made  a  few  re- 
marks of  appreciation,  then  he  turned  to. the  little 
group  of  engineers  who  had  been  in  the  back- 
ground, and  he  said,  realizing  the  general  lack  of 
appreciation  of  those  to  whom  credit  belonged: 
"And  as  to  you,  you  engineers  who  did  this  work, 
your  reward  will  be  an  investigation." 


SOME  REASONS  FOR  PUBLICITY  n 

Roosevelt's  Plan.  In  checking  adverse  opinion, 
perhaps  the  best  way  is  to  take  the  aggressive. 
This  was  Roosevelt's  plan;  and  Roosevelt  was  a 
past  master  at  holding  public  opinion,  primarily 
because  he  was  sincere,  enthusiastic,  capable,  and 
had  the  good  of  the  nation  at  heart.  If  things 
were  not  going  well  with  Roosevelt,  he  would  get 
out  and  start  something,  and  direct  attention  to 
some  new  project. 

How  Press  Contributions  Help  the  Young  En- 
gineer. Contributions  to  the  technical  press  serve 
to  obtain  one  type  of  valuable  engineering  pub- 
licity, and  the  value  to  the  contributor  is  one  of 
the  reasons  for  publicity  which  the  engineer,  and 
especially  the  young  engineer,  will  do  well  not  to 
overlook. 

Aside  from  his  scholastic  training  and  his  prac- 
tical experience  in  industry  or  in  the  field,  nothing 
contributes  more  to  the  progress  of  a  young  en- 
gineer than  to  form  the  habit  of  making  accept- 
able contributions  to  the  local  or  to  the  technical 
press. 

In  the  first  place,  it  clarifies  his  ideas,  leads  him 
to  think  along  logical,  connected  lines,  enlarges  his 
vocabulary,  teaches  him  precision  in  the  use  of 
terms,  and  frequently  forces  him  to  fill  in  certain 
gaps  in  his  knowledge  or  experience  before  he  can 
give  comprehensive  treatment  to  a  theme. 

Furthermore,  he  learns  to  concentrate  on  sub- 
jects which  have  practical  rather  than  academic 
value;  for  the  technical  journals  have  little  to  do 
with  theory,  except  as  it  finds  practical  application 


12  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

in  engineering,  chemistry,  metallurgy,  or  indus- 
trial uses  generally,  including  transportation  and 
providing  the  means  for  it,  such  as  highways, 
bridges,  motor  vehicles,  railways,  rolling  stock, 
docks  and  harbors,  ships,  and  mines. 

In  each  subject  of  which  he  writes  he  tends,  for 
the  time  being,  to  become  a  specialist,  and  while 
he  may  not  be  enough  of  a  specialist  to  offer  any 
startling  contribution  to  the  world's  knowledge, 
he  will,  at  any  rate,  be  a  better,  more  practical 
engineer  in  that  particular  line  than  he  was  before 
he  prepared  the  article. 

Such  effort,  if  continuous,  soon  begins  to  show 
in  the  young  engineer's  regular  work  and  will  at- 
tract attention  from  his  superiors,  even  though 
they  may  never  read  the  articles  themselves.  One 
thing  then  will  lead  to  another,  and  the  young 
engineer  will  find  himself  -the  center  of  an  ever- 
widening  circle  of  influence  and  value. 


Typical   symbolic  cartoon  illustrating  the  position  of  the  professional 
engineer   in   society. 


Maximum  Newspaper  Space 

THIS     double     spread     represents 
perhaps    the    largest    newspaper 
article  on  an  engineering  subject  that 
has  appeared  under  the  auspices  of  an 
engineering  society. 


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Civilian  Coast  Artillery 

'  I  ^  HIS  series  of  pictures  illustrates  the  general  news  appeal  of  non- 
J-   technical  activities  of  an  engineering  organization.    The  following 
is  part  of  the  news  article  accompanying  each  8xio  glossy  print  sent  to 
the  general  press. 

"This  class, ^composed  entirely  of  civilians  who  are  members  of  the  Long  Beach 
(California)  Chapter  of  the  American  Association  of  Engineers  and  the  Progres- 
sive Business  ^Club  of  Long  Beach  are  receiving  voluntary  training  as  coast 
artillerymen.  The  class  assembles  one  evening  each  week  for  instruction  under 
the  direct  supervision  of  Colonel  Henry  E.  Hatch,  commanding  officer  of  Fort 
MacArthur.  Civilians  not  only  man  the  mortars  but  also  are  training  in  the 
observation  stations  and  man  the  plotting  room  where  the  engineer  fits  well 
on  the  plotting  board " 


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CHAPTER  II 

THE  RIGHT  CONCEPTION  OF  PUBLICITY 

Molding  Public  Opinion.  Before  we  go  ahead 
to  obtain  the  publicity  which  the  preceding  chap- 
ter has  shown  to  be  so  valuable,  it  is  best  to  get 
clearly  in  mind  just  what  we  mean  by  the  term 
publicity,  or  public  notice,  or  public  information 
work. 

All  public  notice  of  engineers  and  engineering, 
to  serve  the  purposes  outlined  in  the  previous 
chapter,  will  be  directed  toward  molding  public 
opinion  favorable  to  the  engineer.  It  is  the  favor- 
able opinion  of  the  public  which  all  forms  of  pub- 
licity seek. 

Publicity,  Press  Agency,  Propaganda,  and  Pub- 
lic Information  Work.  To  see  to  it  that  the 
people  are  fully,  intelligently,  and  honestly  in- 
formed is  undoubtedly  the  chief  aim  of  enlightened 
publicity.  Yet  it  is  often  a  very  difficult  goal  to 
attain  and  its  attainment  calls  for  wisdom  and 
skill. 

Publicity,  press  agency,  and  propaganda  are 
terms  often  used  interchangeably,  but  the  three 
activities  are  very  different. 

Propaganda,  of  course,  depends  on  publicity,  but 
it  carries  also  an  implication  of  something  being 
done  in  an  underhanded  way,  something  that  in- 
sidiously plants  wrong  ideas  in  the  mind  and  has 
an  ulterior  motive. 

17 


i8  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

Publicity,  on  the  contrary,  is  a  light-of-day 
proposition.  It  must  have  in  mind  a  public  ser- 
vice and  be  sound  ethically,  both  in  its  purpose 
and  its  operation,  for  its  object  is  education. 

The  average  man  in  this  country  is  interested  in 
what  the  other  average  man  is  doing.  This  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  if  you  want  to  obtain  the 
good  things  of  the  world  for  yourself,  the  first 
thing  you  generally  do  is  to  find  out  what  the  rest 
of  the  people  are  doing  and  what  they  need,  and 
try  to  supply  that  need.  The  idea  of  filling  the 
need  for  information  is  the  basis  of  all  public  in- 
formation work;  and  when  frankness,  honesty, 
sincerity,  and  ability  are  combined  in  presenting 
the  problems  of  any  organization,  whether  it  be 
educational,  financial,  political,  or  commercial,  to 
the  community  and  the  country  at  large,  the  pub- 
lic will  listen  and  be  interested. 

The  Place  of  Public  Information  Work.  Public 
information  work  is  the  larger  view  of  publicity; 
it  is  an  important  factor  in  our  life  today.  In  com- 
mercial organizations  in  the  past  it  has  ordinarily 
been  in  the  hands  of  the  president,  or  some  high 
official  of  the  company;  but  as  manufacturing, 
educational,  and  financial  institutions  have  become 
more  dependent  in  their  growth  and  economic 
welfare  on  acquainting  the  public  with  what  they 
are  doing,  systematized  methods  of  handling  public 
relations  have  developed. 

This  development  has  become  necessary  be- 
cause of  the  greatly  increased  volume  of  such 
work,  and  the  utilization  of  more  routine  methods 


THE  RIGHT  CONCEPTION  OF  PUBLICITY  19 

of  reaching  the  public.  The  work  is  now  dele- 
gated to  some  assistant;  or,  in  large  organizations, 
to  a  special  department.  Public  information  work 
is  closely  allied  with  business  research,  advertis- 
ing, trade  extension,  and  service  work.  It  touches 
all  of  them  in  some  manner,  depending  upon  the 
relative  importance  of  publicity  in  the  life  and 
welfare  of  the  organization.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it 
includes  all  of  them,  the  basic  thought  being  to 
create  and  maintain  good  will,  and  to  acquaint 
people  at  large  with  the  salient  points  of  the 
business  in  such  a  way  that  they  will  be  interested, 
and  will  support  it.  Converting  good  will  into 
money  is  more  the  field  of  advertising  and  selling. 
Public  information  work  stands  in  an  ambassado- 
rial position,  rather  than  a  soliciting  position.  Many 
of  the  methods  employed  in  this  work  have  come 
down  to  us  from  the  ancients;  they  are  methods 
which  were  used  by  Aristotle  and  the  Caesars. 

Not  very  long  ago  a  university  in  the  Middle 
West  felt  that  it  needed  the  support  of  the  whole 
state  in  order  to  increase  its  usefulness  to  the  state. 
This  university  went  about  telling  the  state  what 
it  was  doing,  not  in  a  boastful  way,  but  truthfully 
presenting  the  problems  that  came  to  them,  and 
•the  efforts  they  were  making  to  solve  these  prob- 
lems, pointing  out  the  work  that  could  be  accom- 
plished with  more  adequate  support.  Today  this 
university  is  known  from  coast  to  coast  for  its  pro- 
gressive work  and  the  close  relations  existing  be- 
tween the  university  and  the  people  of  the  state; 
and  the  university  is  growing  to  be  one  of  the 


2O  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

largest  in  the  United  States.  Through  the  devel- 
opment of  its  relations  to  the  public  it  became  a 
factor  in  developing  the  environment  in. which  the 
people  of  the  state  live.  The  university  became 
an  entrepreneur  of  public  opinion  through  its  am- 
bassadors to  the  public. 

Public  Service  Is  the  Basis  of  Public  Notice.  At 
the  time  when  Richard  H.  Waldo  was  Chairman  of 
the  Publicity  Committee  of  the  Associated  Adver- 
tising Clubs  of  the  World,  there  took  place,  per- 
haps for  the  first  time,  an  actual  working  out  of 
a  definite  formula  for  publicity,  which  was  this: 

Policies,  plus  personnel,  will  result  in  full  pub- 
licity; and  any  time  that  you  want  publicity,  that 
is  the  way  to  get  it. 

Publicity  is  a  root,  though  a  lot  of  us  think  it 
is  a  fruit.  It  is  not;  it  is  rooted  in  policies,  and  if 
your  policies  are  not  right,  then  the  tree  will  be  a 
barren  one.  You  will  have  no  publicity.  You 
may  get  some  pieces  in  the  newspapers,  which 
many  members  of  the  public  think  are  publicity, 
but  you  will  not  get  the  right  kind  of  public  notice 
of  engineering  if  the  public  service,  which  is  the 
basis  of  all  proper  public  notice,  is  lacking. 

Where  there  is  public  service,  public  notice  may 
always  be  expected  to  follow.  You  have  but  to 
present  your  story  in  such  a  way  that  the  man  for 
whom  it  is  intended  will  find  it  interesting. 

One  has  to  do  practically  what  the  town  fool 
did  at  the  time  he  claimed  the  reward  for  a  lost 
horse.  He  got  the  reward,  and  they  asked  him, 
"How  is  it  that  you,  the  town  fool,  were  able  to 


THE  RIGHT  CONCEPTION  OF  PUBLICITY  21 

find  the  horse  when  no  one  else  in  the  whole  town 
could  do  so?" 

He  scratched  his  head  and  said,  "Huh,  that  was 
easy.  I  thought  what  I  would  do  if  I  was  a  horse." 

That  is  what  you  have  to  do  in  publicity,  you 
have  got  to  have  in  mind  your  Mr.  Smith  or  Mr. 
Jones,  who  reads  the  Pittsburgh  Dispatch,  or  the 
Los  Angeles  Times.  If  he  likes  it  and  reads  it 
everybody  will,  and  that  is  the  thing  above  all 
things  that  technically  trained  men  must  bear  in 
mind. 

The  Engineer's  Opportunity  for  Publicity.  En- 
gineers are  identified  with  public  service  every- 
where, not  merely  that  percentage  of  the  profes- 
sion who  are  actually  employed  in  what  is  com- 
monly called  "public  service,"  but  all  who  are  en- 
gaged in  the  construction  of  sky-scrapers,  in  plan- 
ning power,  in  terminal  problems,  or  in  keeping 
railroads  properly  maintained.  All  are  in  the  pub- 
lic service;  therefore,  there  is  no  group  of  men  in 
the  United  States  who  have  so  magnificent  an  op- 
portunity for  publicity.  From  the  earliest  days 
of  learning  their  profession  to  the  time  they  be- 
come the  elder  statesmen  of  that  profession,  engi- 
neers are  always  working  along  the  lines  of 
bettering  civilization  and  hastening  its  progress. 

There  are  two  broad  phases  of  public  relations 
work;  first,  to  determine  just  what  type  of  infor- 
mation is  most  effective  in  developing  good-will; 
and  second,  the  mechanics  of  distributing  this  in- 
formation in  the  broadest  possible  way,  so  that  it 
will  reach  the  people  who  are  most  interested  and 


22  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

who  will  be  of  most  value  to  the  profession  after 
their  interest  is  obtained.  This  work  is  really  the 
connecting  link  between  advertising,  as  it  exists 
now  in  most  organizations,  and  selling,  which  has 
to  do  with  the  distribution  of  a  product  at  a  profit. 
It  is  a  connecting  link  which  has  been  highly  de- 
veloped by  some  organizations,  and  it  is  susceptible 
to  a  tremendous  future  development. 

Information  Must  Be  Valuable  and  Useful.  The 
primary  requisite  of  any  information  given  out  by 
an  organization  is  that  the  information  shall  be  of 
value  in  the  every-day  life  of  the  people  who  re- 
ceive it.  This  is  the  kind  of  information  that  sticks. 
Sensational  information  attracts  attention;  but  it 
frequently  has  not  the  lasting  qualities  which  are 
more  desirable. 

C.  R.  Thomas,  Editor  of  Professional  Engineer 
and  formerly  in  charge  of  publication  of  results  at 
the  Forest  Products  Laboratory,  said:  "I  some- 
times think  of  the  director  of  publicity  as  the 
leader  of  a  big  orchestra,  the  instruments  of  which 
are  even  more  varied  in  their  tone  and  type  of  appeal 
than  those  of  the  orchestra.  In  the  orchestra  some- 
times we  hear  the  blare  of  the  trumpet,  at  other 
times  the  soft,  sustained  note  of  the  violin,  and 
again  the  rattle  of  the  traps  and  the  boom  of  the 
drums.  In  a  campaign  of  publicity  the  harmoni- 
ous use  of  a  great  many  means  of  publicity  is  an 
essential  feature.  The  timing  of  announcements 
and  inaugurating  policies  must  be  carefully  studied. 
For  let  it  be  remembered  that  discords  can  be  pro- 
duced, if  the  various  agencies  of  information  are 
not  well  coordinated." 


fflj 


SUBWAY  NOW1  PLAN  BEADY 


The  Head 


WORKCANBEGINl 
THIS  SUMMER, 


All  Sections  to  Be 
Reached  by  Bores. 


Engineers  working  under  the  dine 
Uon  of  the  city  council's  local  trans- 
portation committee  hare  completed 
tentative  plans  for  a  comprehensive 
rapid  transit  subway  for  Chicago. 

The  routes  are  to  be  submitted  to 
the  committee  next  week.  A*  at  pres- 
ent agreed  upon,  the  routes  In  the 
main  follow  those  recommended  by 
the  harbor  and  subway 
of  1S12.  At  that  time  the  plan 
known  as  the  "  Harrison  plan."  backed 
by  former  Mayor  Carter  H.  Harrison. 

Attorneys  for  the  committee 
that  by  using  the  I30.ftoo.ooo  now  In 
the  traction  .fund,  construction  work 
on  the  tubes  can  be  begun  In  the  down- 
town district  within  this  summer,  tf 
the  council  desire*,  and  that  the  work 
can  be  extended  by  ft 
through  the  plan  of  Issuing  utility  cer 
tlflcates  outlined  by  Aid.  U.  3 
Schwartz. 

Engineers  Approve  Routes. 

The  route  plan,  which  has  the  ap 
proval  of  Engineers  Blon  J.  Arnold 
•R.  F.  Kelker  Jr..  J.  H  Pryor,  Charles 
E  Fox.  and  Harold  Almert.  may  be 
changed  somewhat  before  It  Is  pre 
sented  to  the  aldermen,  as  represents, 
lives  of  several  organisations  are  yet 
to  be  heard. 

The   subway  would   be  municipally 
owocJ  and  operated,  'according 
ent    plans.     However,    the    engineers 

downtown  district  and  the  surface  01 
elevated  lines,  fearing  competition 
should  ask  to  be  Included  In  the  trac 
tlon  scheme.  It  would  be  possible 
switch  the  plans  to  render  unification 
of  surface  lines,  elevateds,  and  sub- 
ways. 

As  plan/ied  by  the  engineers, 
would  be  131  single  track  miles  of  sub- 
way  tracks   and   SI    miles   of 
It   is  declared   tbat    1.7(0.009 


PROPOSED  SUBWAY  SYSTEM 


DOTS  SHOW  COM- 
PARATIVE DENSITY 
OF  POPULATION 


Xaginetrs  btvt  complete*  t  plae  for  a  comprehensive  subwt?  syttta 
lor  thi  city  which  will  bt  submitted  to  the  council  next  week..  The  mtp 
iodietttt  tbt  proposed  routes  tad  the  territory  to  be  served. 


live  within  naif  a  mile  of  the  pro- 
posed routes  and  tbat  1,075,500.000  pa*- 
•angers  would  be  carried  OB  the  sub- 
way Unas  each  year. 

Ten  car  through  route  trains  are 
recommended.  There  would  be  no 
"loop"  In  the  downtown  district. 
Tralna  would  be  operated  from  the 
west  to  the  north  and  south  sides,  via 
the  loop,  and  from  the  north  to  the 
south  sides  and  vice  versa,  much  as 
the  present  Evanston  •  Jackson  park 
"  L  "  train*  are  operated. 


The  Tentative  ; 

The  routes  which  have  been  given 
the  tentative  O.  K.  of  the  engineers 
are  as  foUowi: 

North  aide  to  sooth  side—  Begin nlni 
at  Lawrence  avenue  and  Broadway,  a 
two  track  subway  In  Broadway  to  trt. 
Ins  Park  boulevard  and  Halated 


A  well-presented,  front  page  engineering  news  story. 


24  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

James  Bryce,  the  English  statesman  who  has 
written  the  best  survey  of  our  government,  says 
in  his  book,  The  American  Commonwealth:  "The 
United  States  is  governed  by  public  opinion." 
What  we  are  discussing  is  public  opinion  and  pub- 
licity in  its  broadest  and  not  its  narrowest  sense. 
We  ought  not  to  confuse  automobile  and  movie 
actor  write-ups  or  press  agency  with  the  making 
of  public  opinion. 

The  Public's  Debt  to  the  Engineer.  The  engi- 
neer has  been  the  conqueror  of  nature.  He  has 
made  possible  greater  production  by  labor.  He 
has  raised  the  standard  of  living  and  has  supplied 
the  new  human  wants  that  have  come  with  our 
advancing  material  civilization. 

But  if  this  were  all,  his  contribution  would  be 
paralleled  by  the  other  acts  and  professions.  The 
public  debt  to  him  is  greater  than  these.  To  the 
engineer  also  must  be  credited  a  kind  of  thinking 
which  goes  deeper  than  the  material  things  of  life. 
The  true  engineer  is  guided  not  alone  by  an  ab- 
stract material  philosophy  of  getting  the  facts  and 
raising  material  structures  for  the  benefit  of  man- 
kind, but  by  a  sense  of  service  second  only  to  that 
of  the  preacher. 

It  is  when  we  consider  these  things  that  the  true 
significance  of  the  tremendous  importance  of  pub- 
licity for  engineers  and  engineering  becomes 
evident. 

The  true  conception  of  engineering  publicity, 
we  have  seen,  is  that  of  public  information  work, 
or  public  notice  based  on  public  service.  Because 


THE  RIGHT  CONCEPTION  OF  PUBLICITY          25 

most  publicity  is  ordinarily  obtainable  through 
news  items  in  our  daily  and  weekly  papers,  we 
ought  to  continue  our  definition  of  publicity  to 
include  a  definition  of  news,  and  we  should  dis- 
tinguish between  the  newspaper  man's  conception 
of  news  and  his  conception  of  publicity. 

The  Difference  Between  Publicity  and  News. 
News  has  been  defined  as  anything  which  interests 
people.  It  may  be  spread  only  by  word  of  mouth, 
as  in  the  case  of  local  gossip,  or  the  evening  re- 
counting of  the  day's  happenings  around  the  fam- 
ily table,  or  it  may  be  spread  throughout  the 
civilized  world  by  means  of  speakers,  motion  pic- 
tures, posters,  advertisements,  or  organized  press 
bureaus,  in  the  case  of  events  of  sufficient  human 
or  international  interest. 

One  way  to  consider  news  is  that  it  is  what  ap- 
peals to  the  largest  group  of  people.  It  is  the 
instinct  of  the  newspaper  man  to  find  that  kind  of 
news.  To  establish  in  the  public  mind  the  con- 
sciousness of  engineering  and  its  contributions  to 
society  is  what  we'  should  undertake. 

It  is  difficult  to  define,  in  a  brief  space,  the  dif- 
ference between  publicity  and  news.  Here  is  what 
a  newspaper  man  recently  said:  "I  should  say, 
broadly  speaking,  that  news  is  anything  that  has 
to  do  with  the  welfare  of  the  public,  whereas  pub- 
licity is  something  which  serves  some  particular 
purpose  of  some  private  or  semi-private  char- 
acter."* 

*  For  a  more  complete  discussion  of  what  is  news,  see 
Collier's  Weekly  for  March  18,  1911. 


THE  RIGHT  CONCEPTION  OF  PUBLICITY  27 

Pick  Real  News  in  Seeking  Newspaper  Pub- 
licity. Publicity,  as  such,  often  is  not  acceptable 
to  newspapers,  yet  publicity  and  news  intermingle 
to  a  considerable  degree,  and  it  is  important  in  all 
publicity  work  attempted  with  newspapers  to  study 
the  subject  from  the  standpoint  of  greatest  news 
value. 

A  chapter  of  the  Association  holds  a  meeting 
and  wishes  to  get  some  mention  in  the  local 
papers.  To  the  chapter,  whatever  mention  is  made 
is  in  the  nature  of  publicity. 

But  the  newspaper  editor's  point  of  view  is  dif- 
ferent. Suppose  the  account  of  the  meeting  which 
the  chapter  submits  tellls  of  the  routine  business,  or 
consists  of  a  technical  discussion  of  some  engineer- 
ing subject.  Then  the  local  newspaper  editor  is 
likely  to  look  on  the  notice  of  the  meeting  as  "pub- 
licity," and  if  he  has  plenty  of  live  news  to  fill  his 
columns  the  notice  will  get  into  his  waste  basket. 

If  the  account  tells,  however,  that  the  chapter 
decided  to  recommend  to  the  mayor  a  certain 
prominent  engineer  to  be  appointed  city  engineer, 
or  that  an  expert  talked  on  a  proposed  new  water 
supply  plan  for  the  community,  then  the  account 
of  the  meeting  becomes  news  in  the  eyes  of  the 
editor  and  he  is  eager  to  print  it  because  it  has  a 
general  significance  to  the  public. 

An  Example  of  News  Value.  Here  is  an  ex- 
ample cited  by  H.  V.  Deuell,  day  city  editor  of 
the  Chicago  Tribune:  "It  was  suggested  that  the 
Association  has  in  mind  asking  the  Governor  to 
appoint  a  practical  engineer  and  not  a  politician  for 


28  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

supervision  of  road  construction.  Certainly  nothing 
can  have  greater  public  interest  than  that,  and  you 
are  entitled  to  representation  in  the  newspapers. 
While  you  talk  about  it  to  engineers  to  enlist  the 
interest  of  your  own  members,  you  have  publicity, 
but  if  you  will  actually  go  out  and  do  something, 
if  you  go  to  the  Governor  and  say,  'Mr.  Governor, 
here  is  the  name  of  this  man  who,  we  assert,  is  the 
most  competent  engineer  in  the  state  to  supervise 
this  road/  you  have  actually  done  something  that 
is  of  news  interest  and  it  will  figure  in  the  news- 
papers. 

"The  same  way  with  city  planning  and  the  same 
way  with  questions  which  have  national  applica- 
tion. I  understand,  for  example,  a  movement  is  on 
foot  to  make  a  survey  of  the  power  possibilities  of 
the  Pacific  coast.  That  is  entitled  not  only  to 
representation  in  local  papers,  but  to  representa- 
tion in  national  papers." 

Areas  of  Interest  in  Selecting  News.  Because 
Iowa  is  going  to  move  more  dirt  in  the  construc- 
tion of  roads  through  that  state  in  a  year  than  the 
United  States  moved  in  the  construction  of  the 
Panama  Canal,  it  is  absurd  to  expect  that  the  two 
facts  should  command  equal  publicity.  Newspa- 
pers are  always  dealing  in  news  with  areas  of  in- 
terest. For  instance,  what  is  of  interest  to  Chicago 
is  not  of  interest  to  New  York.  What  is  of  inter- 
est to  Springfield,  Ohio,  is  not  of  interest  to  San 
Francisco.  And  so,  when  planning  to  get  into  the 
newspapers  as  a  national  organization,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  operate  more  or  less  locally. 


THE  RIGHT  CONCEPTION  OF  PUBLICITY 


29 


The  Editor  May  Know  More  About  His  Job 
Than  You  Do.  This  interesting  statement  comes 
from  the  same  newspaper  man  referred  to  above. 


New  York  Tribune. 

The  cartoon  is  perhaps  the  most  emphatic  method  of 
protraying  facts. 

"It  is  not  true  that  the  newspapers  fill  up  space. 
That  is  a  popular  misconception.  Every  night 
there  comes  to  us,  I  suppose,  from  400  to  500  dif- 
ferent items  of  news  which  have  to  be  thrown  on 
the  floor.  Neither  is  it  a  fact  that  we  delight  in 
the  publication  of  scandal. 


BRIEF   FACTS    IN  RELATION   TO 

Rotary  Prosperity  Poster  Campaign 

To  be  designated,  ROTARY  PROSPERITY  POSTER  CAMPAIGN. 

100,000  24-sheet  poster-boards  will  be  used,  each  carrying  a  20 
to  25  word  message. 

Nine  slogans  or  messages  will  be  shown. 

The  100,000  poster-boards  will  be  used  during  the  months  of 
December,  January  and  February. 

In  December,  every  poster-board  \\ltt  carry  a  message  from  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  This  will  be  the  only  one 
used  in  this  country  during  December. 

A  separate  message  will  be  used  for  posting  In  Canada  In 
December. 

In  January  and  February  four  different  messages  will  be  shown 
each  month. 

On  every  poster-board  during  the  ninety-day  period,  in  the  lower 
left-hand  corner,  the  words  "Rotary  Club  Members"  appear. 

The  campaign  will  be  carried  out,  simultaneously  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada. 

8,000  cities,  towns  and  villages  will  be  covered.  Statistics  show 
that  more  than  50  million  people  will  be  reached. 

225,000  posterettes,  each  10"i20",  carrying  appropriate  messages, 
suitable  for  window  display  purposes,  will  be  sent  out. 

The  cost  of  the  poster  space,  posting,  paper  and  ink,  figured  at 
regular  rates,  totals  $1,500,000. 

The  Poster  Advertising  Association,  through  Its  members,  have 
patriotically  donated  the  100,000  boards. 

The  lithographers  have  donated  the  225,000  posterettes. 

Paper  will  be  furnished  at  less  than  cost. 

Lithographers  will  print  the  paper  at  less  than  cost. 

Ink  manufacturers  will  supply  ink  at  less  than  cost.  In  some 
instances,  Ink  has  been  donated  outright. 

280.000  pounds,  or  140  tons  of  paper  will  be  required. 

5,000  pounds  of  Ink  will  be  needed. 

Because  of  the  patriotic  and  unselfish  co-operation  and  dona- 
tions  of  the  Poster  Advertising  Association,  paper  manu- 
facturers, lithographers  and  ink  manufacturers,  the 
$1,500,000  cost  is  reduced  to  $60,000. 

Hie  $60,000  is  required  to  cover  cost  price  of  paper,  ink  and 
printing;  shipment  of  posters  and  posterettes  to  the  8,000 
cities;  clerical  and  stenographic  expense,  postage  and  In- 
cidentals. 

The  plan  has  the  enthusiastic  approval  arid  endorsement  of 
the  Directors  of  the  Rotary  Club  of  New  York,  and  the 
unanimous  ratification  of  the  members  present  at  the 
monthly  dinner  meeting,  held  October  4th. 

A  group  of  individual  Rotarians  has  underwritten  the  $60,000. 

The  campaign  will  be  carried  on  through  an  Executive  Com- 
mittee, Finance  Committee  and  Board  of  Trustees  (see  list 
of  Committees  and  diagram  on  reverse  side  of  this  sheet). 

"No  business  has  a  moral  or  material  right  to  survive  that  does 
not  intelligently  and  honestly  serve." 

Yours  for  Peace,  Progress  and  Prosperity, 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


How  the  Rotary  Prosperity  Poster  Campaign  was  handled. 


32  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

"It  is  also  a  fact  that  anybody  that  comes  to  a 
newspaper  office  is  never  turned  away  by  virtue 
of  the  fact  that  we  dislike  to  publish  anything  of 
a  non-sensational  character.  They  are  turned  away, 
if  they  are  turned  away,  because  what  they  have 
to  offer  is  not  appropriate  for  publication.  Suppose 
I  should  go  to  you  who  were  going  to  build  a 
bridge.  I  have  a  lead  pencil  and  I  say,  'Mr.  So- 
and-so,  here  is  a  nice  lead  pencil.  You  put  this  in 
the  middle  of  your  bridge  to  support  it  and  let  it 
stay  there,  because  I  assure  you  that  it  is  going  to 
be  of  great  value  to  yourself  and  to  the  safety  of 
the  structure/  You  will  look  at  me  and  probably 
have  me  ejected  from  the  place.  Yet  I  have  had 
men  come  to  me  with  manuscripts  of  great  length 
and  great  erudition,  unquestionably  so,  and  say, 
'Here,  take  this;  put  this  in  your  newspaper.  I 
assure  you  this  will  do  your  newspaper  quite  a  lot 
of  good/  It  is  an  absurdity.  We  have  to  discrim- 
inate between  what  the  public  will  read  and  what 
the  public  will  not  read,  and  that  is  a.  highly  spe- 
cialized business." 


PROFESSIONAL 
ENGINEER 


Puoi      Sarvtet 


Public  Utilities  for  Parsons 

R.  I-:.  McDonnell 


Combining  Business  and  Engineering  at  Harvard 


Engineers  in  Railroad  Operation 


"Business  is  what  you  make  it,"  says  T.  C.  Russefl 

J.  F.  O'Berry 


The  Obligations  of  An  Employer 


FEBRUARY,    1922 


A  N  Association  pub- 
•*•*  lication  and  its  re- 
lation to  the  member- 
ship served. 


NY  code  of  ethics  must  be 
predicated  upon  the  basic 
principles  of  truth  and  hon 
esty.  w  hatsoever  things  are 
true.'whatsoeveT  things  are 
*  honest  are  the  things  for 
"«>hich  engineers  must  contend. 

i  engineer  may  nor  "gp  beyond 
ana  defraud  his  broth£r"h? 
underhanded  ait  or  methocL 
may  not  do  01  sav  anything 
which  \vill  injure  his  brothers  rep- 
jutation  or  his  business  for  thepur- 
'  pose  of  securing  his  own  advance- 
ment or  profit  .This  admonition  carries 
with  it  no  oblioaticm  to  retrain  from  tell 
in^  known  and  absolute  truth  about  an 
unworthy  brother,  as  a -protection  to  others; 
but  me  truth  so  told  must  be  such  as  can 
be  substantiated. and  he  who  tells  it 
must  have  trie  couvaof  which  will  nor 
shrink  rrom  me  consequence  of  hb  teUnuj 

Pjhe  engineer  owes  his  client  al- 

-*     lediance  demanding,  his  most 

conscientious  service.l^ut  conscientious 

service  to  the  dient  must  never  entail 

a  surrender  of  personal  convictions  of 


n  fiupneer  who  receives  compeiv 
?a t u^>  front  an  employer  may  not 
^  commission  or  remuneration 


of  any  kind  from  a  third  partv  with 
whom  he  does  business  for  that  em 
plover. 

Hn  enmncer  seeking  to  build  up 
his  Business  may  not  resort  to 
self-laudation  in  advernsina:  He  may 
state  briefly  the  lines  of  wort,  in  which 
he  has  had  experience,  and  enumerate' 
responsible  positions  which  he  has 
held  and  cuve  his  references. 

Hn  engineer  wlvo  employs  others 
eitKer  in  his  own  service  or  in 
that  of  the  client  who  employs  him, 
should  recognize  in  his  relationship 
to  them  an"obliaation  of  exemplary 
conduct,  of  helpfulness  and  personal  in 
terest  in  those  with  whom  he  is  thus 
brought  in  contact. and  he  should  dis 
chaw  such  obturation,  tacttullv  and 

PI  he  honor  of  the  profession  should 
ULJ  be  dear  to  every  engineer,  and 
he  should  ivmember  that  his  own  char 
acter  and  conduct  reflect  honor,  or  the 
reverse  upon  the  profession. 

r*f,then.he  so  lives  that  his  own 
,  1  ,  honor  shall  never  be  smirched 
by  Ks  own  actor  omission,  he  will 
mus  maintain  the  honor  of  thecna.an 
i^ation  to  which  he 


One  of  the  foundation  stones  of  the  American  Association 
of    Engineers. 


CHAPTER  III 

WAYS  AND  MEANS  THAT  BRING 
PUBLICITY 

What  the  Public  Wants.  Everywhere  we  look 
we  see  the  work  of  the  engineer,  yet  how  many 
people  are  conscious  of  that  fact?  It  is  true  that 
engineering  works  do  not  always  speak  for  them- 
selves. Few  people  ever  know  about  the  finest 
sewer  underground  or  the  method  of  mining  that 
reduces  the  cost  of  fuel.  This  is  true  of  a  good 
deal  of  work  of  the  engineer — work  which  can  be 
told  about  in  an  interesting  and  constructive  way. 

The  public  service  on  which  all  valuable  pub- 
licity is  founded  is  present  everywhere  in  the  work 
of  the  engineer;  to  get  the  widest  kind  of  public 
mention,  every  engineer  must  be  an  interpreter  of 
engineering  to  the  public,  and  he  must  know  how 
to  be  such  an  interpreter.  As  engineers  we  must 
be  a  force  in  public  opinion. 

Perhaps  it  is  necessary  to  put  a  little  more  em- 
phasis on  the  subject  of  interpretation,  both  in 
colleges  and  in  practice.  The  articles  through 
which  publicity  is  desired  are  frequently  dry  read- 
ing. Most  people  consider  articles  by  engineers 
as  highly  technical  essays  that  cannot  be  under- 
stood, and  in  which  they  could  not  be  interested  if 
they  tried.  They  therefore  do  not  give  articles  by 
engineers  the  attention  that  they  should.  The 
psychology  is  wrong  to  start  with. 

35 


Advertising  and  Publicity  Sec- 
Executive  Committee 


fhcfricol 'Supply  Members  Aaeeiafnm 
lllumintf,ra  EngwttrinqSocilty 

Notion>Mstoc,af,onofConfmtor,it 


»****>" 


"The  aim  of  the  bureau  will  be  to  make  electric 
service  a  household  word,  develop  a  conversational 
familiarity  with  its  terms,  and  spread  a  knowledge  of 
what  it  is  and  the  part  it  plays  in  industrial,  commercial 
and  household  life  throughout  our  entire  country." 
Electrical  Review,  October  i,  1919. 


Public   information  organization  plan  of  the   National  Electric 
Light  Association. 


WAYS  AND  MEANS  THAT  BRING  PUBLICITY       37 

The  style  of  writing  need  not  be  pure  descrip- 
tion. Pure  description  can  no  doubt  be  made  very 
interesting,  but  one  can  easily  change  to  narration, 
telling  how  an  engineering  project  was  actually  ac- 
complished, and  gain  a  great  deal  in  the  telling. 

Obtaining  publicity,  when  we  think  of  newspa- 
per publicity,  is  a  matter  of  selling  the  right  kind 
of  information  to  the  editor;  a  matter  of  convinc- 
ing him  he  ought  to  publish  engineering  news.  It 
has  always  been  true  that,  in  trying  to  sell  some- 
thing, the  first  step  is  to  try  and  find  out  what  the 
public  wants.  What  the  public  wants  and  what 
engineers  have  to  give  to  them  is  one  way  to  look 
at  the  publicity  question. 

Central  Publicity  Bureaus,  National  and  Local. 
A  nation-wide,  sustained  publicity  campaign  in- 
volves the  collection,  selection,  and  preparation  of 
engineering  information,  and  its  distribution  to 
interested  people.  Briefly  the  ordinary  means  of 
distribution  inside  the  profession  are  the  technical 
journals,  society  proceedings  and  bulletins,  ad- 
dresses, and  discussions.  Outside  of  the  profes- 
sion the  greatest  medium  is  the  newspaper,  but 
public  speaking,  school  lectures,  popular  maga- 
zines, circulars,  moving  picture  films  and  the  more 
general  participation  in  the  deliberations  of  cham- 
bers of  commerce,  school  boards,  and  other  civic 
bodies  are  fertile  fields  which  must  be  cultivated. 

To  do  the  job  effectively  with  the  newspapers, 
contact  by  the  local  engineer  as  publicity  agent 
must  be  obtained  with  the  local  newspaper.  To 
be  of  most  value,  and  to  have  his  contributions 


38  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

carry  weight,  this  local  publicity  agent  of  the  pro- 
fession should  be  backed  and  appointed  by  a  local 
engineering  organization.  In  too  many  cases,  how- 
ever, unless  prodded  continually  by  a  follow-up 
scheme  from  a  national  bureau  the  appointment  of 
a  local  engineer  will  result  only  in  a  few  desultory 
notices  of  meetings.  The  establishment  of  a  na- 
tional publicity  bureau,  with  local,  state,  or  city 
organizations  in  cooperation,  would  be  a  good 
start. 

What  One  State  Organization  Is  Doing.  For 
many  years  public  education  concerning  engineers 
and  engineering  has  been  sadly  handicapped  by 
the  broadness  of  the  term  "engineering"  in  the 
public  mind.  It  is  extremely  difficult  to  give  a  man 
the  definite  impression  we  wish,  when  the  term 
covers  in  his  mind  locomotive  engineers,  brick 
layers,  the  boy  that  holds  the  rod,  and  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad. 

The  first  thing  needed  is  a  definite  legal  status 
and  legal  standard  for  professional  engineers.  A 
concerted  effort  to  secure  the  passage  of  registra- 
tion laws  in  those  states  not  now  having  them 
would  be  a  logical  first  step.  Such  laws  are  of 
great  value  in  restricting  practice  to  competent 
engineers,  but  from  the  publicity  standpoint  the 
legal  standing  and  definition  given  the  profession 
are  invaluable.  It  will  be  found  that  an  intensive 
local  publicity  campaign  will  aid  greatly  in  getting 
these  laws  upon  the  statute  books. 

An  organization  based  upon  the  foregoing  prin- 
ciples has  been  instituted  in  Iowa  and  has  shown 


WAYS  AND  MEANS  THAT  BRING  PUBLICITY      39 

promise  of  success.  The  two  main  divisions  are 
(i)  the  preparation  of  publicity  material,  and  (2) 
getting  it  before  the  public.  The  distribution  or- 
ganization is  planned  entirely  with  reference  to 
the  local  newspapers. 

Some  Suggestions  from  Iowa's  Experience. 
The  following  is  from  the  report  of  the  Committee 
on  Publicity  of  the  Iowa  Engineering  Society,  for 
1919: 

"The  best  medium  for  educating  the  public  as 
to  the  real  value  of  engineers  and  their  work  lies 
in  the  newspapers,  and  especially  those  in  the 
smaller  cities  and  towns.  Engineering  works  of 
extremely  large  type  and  nation-wide  interest  have 
in  the  last  few  years  received  a  vast  amount  of 
publicity,  but  it  is  the  work  of  the  ordinary  engineer 
concerning  which  the  public  must  be  informed, 
before  the  economic  status  of  the  engineering  pro- 
fession can  be  materially  raised. 

"If  a  description  of  engineering  work  is  prop- 
erly prepared  and  presented,  newspaper  space  will 
be  found  waiting  for  it,  for  engineering  work  gen- 
erally has  news  value.  The  most  effective  method 
of  presentation  is  through  personal  contact  with 
the  newspaper  editor.  Material  handed  in  person- 
ally by  an  acquaintance  in  whom  the  editor  has 
confidence  will  be  printed,  where  a  circular  letter 
would  go  in  the  waste  basket. 

"The  engineer's  daily  work  abounds  in  good 
news  stories,  things  in  which  the  people  are  inter- 
ested, but  which  are  never  published  because  the 
engineer  does  not  recognize  their  news  value  or 


40  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

is  too  busy  either  to  write  them  himself  or  to  give 
them  to  someone  else  to  write  up. 

"There  are  two  methods  of  getting  these  stories 
into  the  papers.  The  engineer  must  either  write 
the  story  himself  or  take  the  reporter  or  editor 
into  his  confidence  and  give  him  the  facts.  It  has 
frequently  happened  that  disappointment  results 
with  this  latter  method,  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
reporter's  lack  of  engineering  knowledge  pre- 
vented him  from  bringing  out  the  important 
points  in  the  news  story. 

"Engineers  must  promote  publicity  for  engineer- 
ing and  not  for  a  particular  engineer.  Newspa- 
pers very  generally  refuse  articles  the  publication 
of  which  as  news  would  amount  to  free  advertising 
for  some  individual  or  concern.  The  particular 
engineer's  name  should  be  mentioned  simply  as 
one  item  or  part  of  the  news  story,  but  the  under- 
lying motive  must  be  publicity  for  engineering  and 
engineering  work  without  reference  to  any  par- 
ticular engineer." 

Developing  Volunteer  Service.  We  have  agreed 
that  engineers  must  have  publicity  in  order  that 
they  may  occupy  a  better  position  to  help  them- 
selves and  help  the  other  man.  The  question  is, 
how  to  get  it?  It  is  impossible,  because  too  ex- 
pensive, to  hire  many  men  for  that  definite  pur- 
pose. The  big  thing  is  to  develop  the  unknown 
men,  the  exceptional  men  who  can  do  things.  No 
one  man  can  spend  much  volunteered  time;  yet  in 
the  aggregate  that  volunteered  work  is  the  most 
valuable  thing.  To  get  it,  ways  must  be  devised  to 


WAYS  AND  MEANS  THAT  BRING  PUBLICITY       41 

bring  those  men  out,  to  give  them  simple  instruc- 
tions and  advice  as  to  how  to  get  into  touch  with 
the  local  editor,  and  how  -to  recognize  and  prepare 
the  kind  of  information  that  will  be  taken  by  him 
so  as  to  build  up,  especially  in  the  small  town 
papers,  a  better  knowledge  of  what  the  engineer 
is  doing. 

In  the  cities  the  problem  is  perhaps  easier,  be- 
cause a  more  elaborate  organization  is  possible, 
but  the  greater  strength  comes  from  a  widely  dif- 
fused body  of  men  who  can  bring  that  material  to 
the  attention  of  the  thinking  people,  to  the  atten- 
tion of  constructive  civic  organizations,  and  to  all 
those  people  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  land,  who  can  be  reached  through  these  agen- 
cies. 

It  is  necessary  to  give  a  few  simple  directions  to 
these  volunteer  committees  as  to  how  they  shall  go 
to  work,  how  they  shall  pick  out  of  the  member- 
ship the  men  who  may  be.  able  to  write,  who  may 
be  able  to  get  into  personal  touch  with  the  editors 
and  writers. 

Many  Agencies  Are  Available.  The  newspapers 
constitute  the  easiest  way  of  reaching  the  public, 
but  there  is  no  limit  to  the  number  of  agencies 
that  you  can  employ.  The  railroads,  for  example, 
have  utilized  the  clergymen  of  the  United  States 
to  good  advantage.  They  simply  gave  them  facts 
from  the  payrolls  of  the  railroads,  facts  which  can- 
not be  disputed,  since  they  come  from  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission  reports.  At  one  time 
the  railroads  were  pretty  well  disliked,  but  at  the 


PUBLIC  INFORMATION  MEDIUMS 

A.— Advertising 

1.  Newspaper  card. 

2.  Newspaper  display   in   campaign. 

3.  Magazine. 

4.  Special  announcements. 

B.— Direct-by-Mail 

1.  Circulars. 

2.  Books. 

3.  Chapter  bulletin. 

4.  Special    campaign    of   information   and   visual   re- 

minders. 

C. — Newspapers  and  Magazines 

1.  News  items  relating  to  specific  happenings  or  ac- 

complishments. 

2.  Photographs  with  short  descriptive  captions. 

3.  Editorials. 

4.  Cartoons  of  any  kind. 

5.  Interviews   with   prominent  people. 

6.  Sunday  feature  articles. 

7.  Special   column    comments: 

(a)    humorous,    (b)    sporting,    (c)    women,    (d) 
society. 

8.  Letters  to  the  editor  and  answers. 

9.  Feature   stories   for   magazines. 

10.  Technical  articles  for  trade  magazines. 

11.  House  organ  articles  and  comment. 

12.  News  syndicate  stories. 

13.  Picture  syndicate  photographs. 

14.  Contest:     Limericks,   jungles,    definitions,    letters, 

songs,  photographs,  posters,  essays. 

15.  Slogan   campaigns   such  as   "Build   Now." 

D. — The  Spoken  Word 

1.  Addresses  by  prominent  men  which  are  reported. 

2.  Proclamations     by     prominent     men     afterwards 

printed. 

3.  Short  talks   at  meetings   of  various   kinds  at  the 

theater,  in  public  schools,  and  at  luncheons  or 
dinners. 

4.  Announcements  at  public  gatherings  such  as  auc- 

tions and  athletic  events. 

5.  Pulpit  notices  and  sermons. 

6.  Committee  membership  in  scientific  and  economic 

organizations. 

7.  Solicitations  of  salesmen  and  organizers. 


PUBLIC  INFORMATION  MEDIUMS— Continued 

E. — Demonstrations 

1.  Mass  meetings  of  people  interested. 

2.  Receptions  to  special  groups. 

3.  Group   demonstrations   by  lodges,   clubs,   military 

organizations,   etc. 

4.  Elaborate  exhibits  at  conventions. 

5.  Parades  on  city  streets  and  at  fairs. 

6.  Stunts,  such  as  sandwich  men,  band  wagons,  etc. 

7.  House  to  house  solicitations  with  samples. 

8.  Special  days  such  as  "Fire  Prevention." 

F. — Visual  Reminders 

1.  Posters,  and  cards  as  (a)  billboards,  (b)  windows, 

(c)  bulletin  boards,  (d)  automobiles  and  trucks, 
(e)  hotels,   (f)  railroad  stations,  (g)   street  cars. 

2.  Banners  and  streamers  on  streets. 

3.  Electric  signs. 

4.  Tags,  stickers  and  rubber  stamps  for  use  on  let- 

ters, packages,  pay  envelopes. 

5.  Handbills. 

6.  Inserts   for  use   in   packages   of  all  kinds,   books 

from  libraries,  mail,  newspapers,  and  pay  envel- 
opes. 

7.  Displays   in  merchants'   stores,  windows,  and   on 

sidewalks. 

8.  Exhibits  in  public  schools,  and  posters  and  other 

work  by  school  children. 

9.  Advertisements    on    theatre    programs   and   score 

cards. 

10.  Slides  and  short  news  films  for  use  in  motion  pic- 

ture theatres. 

11.  General  interest  motion  pictures  for  use  in  schools 

and  theatres. 

12.  Technical  motion  pictures  for  conventions  and  sell- 

ing ideas. 

13.  Stereopticons   and   automatic   lanterns   in   lobbies, 

store  windows,  public  buildings  and  at  night  on  vacant 
walls. 

14.  Cards  of  invitation,  advance   announcements  and 

programs. 

The  Test  of  Public  Information: 
"Do  People  Talk  About  It?" 


44  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

end  of  the  campaign  just  preceding  the  passage  of 
the  Adamson  Law,  a  great  compliment  was  paid 
to  the  wisdom  of  the  policy  adopted  by  the  rail- 
roads, when  the  chairman  of  one  of  the  big  rail- 
road brotherhoods  said  that  "the  railroads  have 
bought  up  eighty-five  per  cent  of  the  newspapers 
of  the  United  States."  The  railroads  had  merely 
given  the  facts  to  the  public  through  the  pulpit 
and  newspaper,  and  the  effect  of  this  publicity  was 
inevitable. 

Do  Something— Then  Tell  About  It.  A  news- 
paper will  print  anything  that  interests  the  public. 
The  easiest  way  for  an  engineer  to  get  publicity  is 
to  do  something  unusual.  When  half  a  dozen  of 
the  biggest  engineers  of  the  United  States  went  to 
Philadelphia  and,  simply  by  their  professional  en- 
gineering ability,  were  able  to  break  up  the  biggest 
and  most  powerful  political  organization  that 
Philadelphia  ever  had,  they  got  publicity  because 
they  did  something. 

When  engineers  do  anything  that  is  worth  while 
for  the  public  the  newspapers  are  only  too  glad  to 
print  it.  They  are  always  looking  for  good  mate- 
rial. If  part  of  a  town  were  low  and  flooded  and  the 
engineer  devised  a  scheme  to  keep  the  basements 
dry,  he  would  get  publicity  for  that,  because  it 
interests  the  people. 

The  point  to  emphasize  is  this:  Whenever  en- 
gineers do  something  for  the  public  the  newspa- 
pers will  be  only  too  glad  to  print  it.  The  reason 
engineers  don't  do  more  for  the  public  is  because 
the  public  does  not  realize  at  all,  or  very  slightly, 


WAYS  AND  MEANS  THAT  BRING  PUBLICITY       45 

how  much  can  be  done  by  them.  Moreover,  the 
engineer,  to  the  average  man,  may  be  a  fellow  who 
carries  a  transit,  or  one  who  holds  the  throttle  on  a 
locomotive. 


RELATIONSHIP  OF 

DE  LAVAL 
SELLING  ACTIVITIES 


UstinQualitv 

Qiuniitg 


If  personal  salesmanship  is 
100  times  more  effective  than 
advertisina-  then  advertisina 
reaches  100  times  more  people 
than  personal  salesmanship 


A  chart  used  to  show  graphically  the  relative  effectiveness  of 
personal  appeal  and  the  printed  word. 

Methods  in  Use.  Methods  of  disseminating  in- 
formation resemble  closely  those  used  in  sales 
work.  Two  broad,  general  methods  are  available : 
(i)  personal  appeal;  and  (2)  advertising  and  pub- 
licity. The  former  is  direct  and  restricted  in  scope; 
the  latter  is  indirect  and  broad.  The  general  pur- 
pose of  both  is  the  same :  to  get  available  informa- 


46  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

tion  in  actual  economic  use.  Circumstances  and 
the  type  of  information  to  be  distributed  largely 
determine  the  emphasis  that  must  be  given  to  each 
method  in  each  specific  case.  In  an  organization 
such  as  the  Red  Cross  or  a  large  university,  data 
are  best  disseminated  through  personal  work  and 
the  organization  of  branches,  although  much 
direct-by-mail  work  is  used  profitably. 

In  marketing  a  product  a  manufacturer  consid- 
ers: (i)  the  kind  of  market  desired,  its  limitations, 
who  uses  the  product,  and  how  much  will  be  used; 
(2)  what  selling  methods  shall  be  used;  (3)  shall 
the  product  be  sold  direct  to  the  user,  or  through 
a  distributing  agent.  These  same  factors  must  be 
considered  in  planning  a  campaign  to  obtain  the 
widest  possible  use  of  information.  It  must  also 
be  remembered  that  marketing  is  largely  depen- 
dent upon  the  variable  human  element. 

Mapping  Out  a  Campaign.  The  general  prob- 
lem of  mapping  out  a  campaign  of  publicity  for  a 
specific  purpose  must  include  a  study  of  when,  how, 
how  much,  and  how  long.  Various  mediums  and 
avenues  of  publicity  are  given  in  the  accompany- 
ing list  on  page  42.  Some  of  these  means  of  pub- 
licity will  not  be  available  in  the  early  stages  of 
the  campaign  and,  except  in  unusual  cases,  it  will 
not  generally  be  desirable  to  use  all  of  them  at  one 
time.  The  cost  of  such  publicity  work  is  small  as 
compared  with  its  effectiveness;  and  its  effective- 
ness is  proved  by  its  widespread  use.  It  is  readily 
seen  that  it  is  based  largely  on  ability  and  ideas, 
rather  than  paid  space  in  advertising  mediums.  It 


WAYS  AND  MEANS  THAT  BRING  PUBLICITY      47 

would  require  more  space  than  is  available  to  dis- 
cuss the  details  of  how  each  of  these  avenues  of 
publicity  is  used;  and  the  discussion  would  be  of 
uncertain  value.  The  same  set  of  conditions  is 
never  presented  twice;  and  the  same  methods  will 
not  serve  many  times  in  succession. 

The  study  of  a  field  as  a  preliminary  to  a  pub- 
licity campaign  is  primarily  a  matter  of  business 
research.  It  combines  the  study  of  production, 
selling,  advertising,  news  gathering,  promotional 
work,  the  possible  results  that  can  be  accomplished 
in  creating  a  vogue  or  good-will  along  certain 
lines,  the  best  methods  of  accomplishing  this  work, 
the  approximate  cost,  and  the  returns  to  be  ex- 
pected. Such  business  research  should  always  be 
done  preliminary  to  an  advertising  campaign;  and 
a  general  publicity  campaign  can  frequently  be 
carried  on  as  a  feeler  to  determine  just  what  type 
of  advertising  to  use.  There  are  two  other  im- 
portant functions  of  a  general  publicity  campaign: 
(i)  to  reach  the  class  of  people  that  does  not  read 
advertisements;  and  (2)  to  make  advertising  pull 
by  an  indirect  appeal — a  flank  attack. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  backbone  of  all 
successful  public  information  work  is  well-handled 
advertising  space  in  magazines  and  newspapers 
that  go  to  people  most  interested  in  the  organiza- 
tion. Advertising  space  is  not  dependent  on  news 
value  or  other  uncertain  conditions  of  public  fancy 
or  contingencies  of  business;  and  even  though  the 
advertising  is  not  noticed  until  it  is  missed — it 
must  be  poor  advertising  indeed  for  this  to  be  true 
— it  is  accomplishing  a  purpose. 


48  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

The  Personal  Appeal.  Undoubtedly  the  strong- 
est appeal  that  can  possibly  be  made  for  an  or- 
ganization of  any  kind  is  the  direct  personal  ap- 
peal. This  is  the  appeal  of  the  solicitor,  the  orator, 
the  theatre,  the  man  who  is  a  member  of  an  im- 
portant trade  committee,  and  the  head  of  an 
organization  when  he  appears  before  the  public  or 
his  employees  on  any  occasion.  There  is  also  a 
definite  psychology  of  merely  having  a  man  on 
the  ground  to  shake  hands.  People  like  to  see  the 
personal  representative  of  an  organization;  and 
this  representative  is  most  effective  when  he  does 
not  confine  himself  strictly  to  business,  but  shows 
that  he  is  a  human  being  and  has  other  interests 
than  those  by  which  he  earns  his  daily  bread. 

The  appeal  to  the  eye  is  the  most  effective  way 
to  attract  attention  because  the  least  effort  is  in- 
volved on  the  part  of  the  man  to  whom  the  appeal 
is  made.  Arthur  Brisbane,  who  is  a  wizard  at 
using  words,  says  "one  picture  is  worth  a  million 
words."  There  are  so  many  well-developed  meth- 
ods of  appealing  to  the  eye  that  one  is  frequently 
at  a  loss  to  know  just  which  ones  to  use.  Study 
the  characteristics  of  all  of  them,  and  use  all  of 
them  as  the  proper  conditions  are  presented. 

The  fundamental  principle  in  preparing  matter 
for  printing  is  to  "remember  whom  you  are  talk- 
ing to."  If  you  forget  that,  what  you  write  will 
probably  have  little  effect  on  the  man  you  are  writ- 
ing for;  and  besides,  it  may  not  be  published  where 
it  will  do  the  most  good.  Editors  study  what 
people  want;  public  relations  men  study  what  edi- 


WAYS  AND  MEANS  THAT  BRING  PUBLICITY      49 

tors  want.  Both  are  engaged  in  disseminating  in- 
formation; but  the  work  of  the  public  relations 
man  is  always  for  the  good  of  the  organization  he 
represents. 

When  to  Begin.    The  proper  time  to  begin  a 


ALVORD.  BURDICK  &  HOWSON 

(SUCCESSORS  ro  ALVORD  &  BUBDICK) 

ENGINEERS 


WE  BEG  TO  ANNOUNCE  THAT  THE  FIRM  ALVORD  &  BUPDICK  WILL 
HEPEAFTER  BE  KNOWN  AS  ALVORD.  BURDICK  5.  HOWSON 

MR  LOUIS  R  HOWSON,  WHOSE  NAME  IS  NOW  IDENTIFIED  WITH 

THE  FIRM.  HAS    BEEN   A    MEMBER   OF  OUR   ORGANIZATION    FOR   THE 
PAST  FIFTEEN  YEARS.AS  ASSISTANT.  PRINCIPAL  ASSISTANT  AND  PARTNER. 
AS  IN  THE  PAST  THIS  FIRM  WILL  CONTINUE  IN  THE  PRACTICE  OF 
ENGINEERING  PARTICULARLY  RELATED  TO  THE  PROBLEMS  OF 

WATER  WORKS  FLOOD  RELIEF 

WATER  PURIFICATION  DRAINAGE 

SEWERAGE  POWER  GENERATION 

SEWAGE  DISPOSAL  APPRAISALS 

INCLUDING  PRELIMINARY  REPORTS  UPON  SUCH  PROPERTIES  AND  PLANS 

FOR  CONSTRUCTION. 


•  SO  DEARBORN  ST 
CHICAGO.  ILL 
rCBRUARr   IV  1822 


JOHN    W    ALVORD 
CHA8  B   BURDICK 


A  typical  announcement  of  a  firm  of  engineers. 

publicity  campaign  is  the  moment  it  is  believed 
adequate  returns  can  be  obtained.  This  may  be  a 
time  when  business  is  good  and  the  organization 
feels  that  it  is  wise  to  prepare  for  the  time  when  it 
will  have  to  fight  for  recognition;  or  it  may  be  in 
the  midst  of  a  campaign  to  accomplish  some  defin- 
ite result  at  an  early  date.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  a 
campaign  should  be  so  timed  as  to  coordinate 
with  the  general  trend  of  public  opinion.  An 
economy  campaign,  for  example,  would  be  some- 


50  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

what  out  of  place  at  a  time  when  everyone  is 
thinking  but  little  of  economy,  although  economy 
campaigns  are  Jfcver  entirely  out  of  place.  It 
should  be  rememlrered  that  publicity  is  cumulative 
in  its  results,  and  once  started  it  is  difficult  to  con* 
trol  beyond  a  certain  point. 

Publicity  for  Ideas,  Rather  than  for  Men.  Avoid 
publicity  for  men  in  an  organization,  if  possible, 
although  if  they  are  men  of  note  and  they  have 
accomplished  work  of  local  or  national  importance, 
names  and  personal  anecdotes  may  be  used  be- 
cause of  their  news  value.  But  the  ideas  should 
carry  the  men,  rather  than  the  men  carry  the  ideas. 
Any  movement  that  is  based  on  the  personal 
prowess  of  certain  men  is  doomed  to  failure.  The 
paradox  exists;  but  people  are  so  constituted  that 
once  a  man  gets  in  a  high  place  there  are  many 
who  seek  to  pull  him  down,  and  eventually  he 
falls.  No  man  ever  stayed  popular  over  a  great 
period  of  time,  although  no  constructive  move- 
ment ever  failed  over  a  great  period  of  time.  Ideas 
are  greater  than  men;  this  should  never  be  for- 
gotten in  public  relations  work. 

The  best  methods  of  beginning  publicity  work 
are  determined  by  the  specific  set  of  conditions 
presented.  Every  organization  has  certain  friends 
who  are  interested  in  its  work,  and  it  is  well  to 
begin  with  these.  All  publicity  work  is  a  matter 
of  ideas  and  ability  rather  than  paid  advertising 
space;  although  advertising  space  is  the  backbone 
of  any  well-conducted  publicity  campaign.  It  is 
not  a  bad  idea  to  tie  up  the  general  work  of  pub- 


Revolving  Emblem  in  Parade  of 
Engineers    Dedicating    Building 

WHAT :       A  parade  depicting  the  progress  of  engineering  in 
the  last  century 

WHEN  :       was  held  on  November  19 

WHERE:     at  Kansas  State  College,  Manhattan,  Kansas, 

WHY:  to  dedicate  a  new  $125,000  engineering  hall. 

WHO  :  The  ceremony   was   in   charge  of   the  engineering 

division  of  the  college  and  the  student  chapter  of 
the  American  Association  of  Engineers  partici- 
pated 

HOW:  by  entering  the   float   illustrated.    An  8-foot  disk 

was  mounted  on  a  pivot  so  that  it  revolved  as  the 
truck  moved.  It  was  lighted  by  flood  lamps  de- 
signed and  constructed  by  Harry  Nelson,  E.  F. 
Stalcup,  J.  A.  Kibler,  and  L.  W.  Newcomer. 

There  were  25  floats  in  the  parade  representing 
all  phases  of  engineering.  Another  interesting 
float 


'Summarizing  in  the   first  paragraph  is  a  safe  rule"  for  news  items. 


This  picture  lacks  general  interest  because  it  is  without 
human  figures. 


This  picture  has  general  interest  because  human  figures 
tell  the  story. 


THE   unusual    picture   always    has 
general  interest.     Added  value  is 
given  this  picture  because  it  portrays 
an    important    news    event    in    Wash- 
ington, D.   C. 


WAYS  AND  MEANS  THAT  BRING  PUBLICITY       55 

licity  to  some  current,  constructive  public  move- 
ment that  will  benefit  a  great  many  people.  No 
reputable  organization  will  attempt  to  obtain  broad 
publicity  except  in  connection  with  some  construc- 
tive public  movement. 

The  final  measure  of  effectiveness  is  whether 
the  object  for  which  the  work  was  undertaken  is 
accomplished.  The  indirect  benefits  are  of  such 
nature  that  frequently  final  results  cannot  be  ac- 
curately judged  until  a  period  of  years  has  elapsed. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  negative  results  can 
also  be  accomplished;  and  unless  publicity  work 
is  founded  upon  the  service  ideas  of  improving 
the  welfare  of  the  people,  negative  results  may  al- 
ways be  expected.  The  difference  in  intent  often 
results  in  the  small  difference  that  frequently  dis- 
tinguishes success  from  failure.  Abraham  Lincoln 
claimed  that  you  could  fool  some  of  the  people  for 
a  while,  but  you  cannot  fool  all  the  people  all  the 
time.  This  is  a  true  saying  as  applied  to  crowd 
psychology  and  holding  public  opinion. 

Publicity  from  Government  Bureaus.  One  ef- 
fective source  of  engineering  publicity  which  local 
organizations  can  cultivate  includes  the  city, 
county,  state,  and  national  engineering  bureaus. 
There  is  often  in  these  offices  an  antagonism  to 
newspaper  talk  and  to  publicity,  but  with  the  right 
kind  of  diplomacy  the  bureau  officials  can  usually 
be  made  to  see  the  value  of  good  publicity  to  them 
and  to  their  work.  The  following  example  may 
help  to  show  how  such  publicity  is  valuable. 


NEWS  OF  ENGINEERING  PROGRESS 

AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  OF  ENGINEERS 
63  EAST  ADAMS  STREET.  CHICAGO 


R      96  FOR  POBLICAHOB  March  16.  19 8S 

Inoediata  Cause*  of  Knickerbocker  Theatre  Failure 

The    technical  causes  of  the  failure  of  the  Knickerbocker  Theatre  ia 
Washington,  O.C.,  in  which  97  people  were  killed  and  135  injured  are  given 

in  a  report  of  the  Investigating  Committee  of  the  Washington  Chapter  of  th« 
American  Association  of  Engineers  consisting  cf  II .  D.  y«*«h«»p — >K<vy»ma«. 


BULLETIN 


FEDERATED    AMERICAN    ENGINEERING    SOCIETIES 
ti9  pirruNTB  smuBT  N.  w.,  WAMnxoron.  D.  c. 


February  23,   1922 


3  page* 


EXECUTIVE  SECREHEr  >•  attending  the  annual  nesting  of  the  AoBrican  Institute  of 
Mining  &  Metallurgical-  &ogin*«r«  In  Hew  Tork  City.     BB  will  address  the  repre»ent»- 
tiy»«  of  toe  *****  mmrtirp.       rv.  ^^0^  24  thej^inrr""  ^ffjiretary  will  attend  t^ 


'..r'.MiiVx"  The  London  Tune*  Says— 


KrSS:5SaS3r  NOWTIMETO  FOR  A  UNION 


srissruJafcZTrS.*  rs»; •;".:•'.;•  r..r'.,"  ;:v,2J£ "TVSiT ~r -* " 


Typical  public  information  bulletins. 


TfflattfieHn&neers  are  *Doii 


REPORT  BEUTES  USES 
OF  KNICKERBOCKER  FIRE 

Discloses  Frailties  of  Building 

io  Which  97  People 

Wen  Killed. 

The  technical  causes  of  ths  failure 
of  the  Knickerbocker  theater  in  Wash- 
ington. D.  C..  In  which  9?  people  were 
kifiecf  and  135  Injured  are  given  in 
a  report  of  th*  Investigating  commit- 
tte  of  th*  Washington  chapter  of  the 
American  Association  of  Engineers,  con- 
*j.tlng  of^ N.^UUchell. ^ nnan, ^W. 

J.'  r  dirt          **  ' 
"The  feature*  of  this  building  which 

most  deserve  criticism,"  said  tb*  re- 
port, "are: 

"1.  Support  of  main  truss  on  a  thin 
wall  lacking,  eolidit.v  and  mas*. 

"2.  Support  of  main  truss  on  a 
akew  bearing,  combined  with  lack  of 
stiffness  in  connection  between  th*  end 
post  and  lower  chord  of  trus*. 

"3.  Failure  to  anchor  trusses  and 
heavy  beam*  into  wall*. 

"4.     Scant    bearing  at   wall*. 

"5.  Insufficient  section  areas  and 
Inadequate  detail*  of  truss  member*. 

"8.     Inadequate  column   bracing. 

•7:  Absence  of  lateral  aupport  of 
ItcrmedjaTte  nanela  of  main 

tween  other  t 
"0.     Inadequate   itrtngtb     of     roof 

''While  the  correction  of  any  one  of 
th*  faults  given  under  1.  2  or  3  might 
easily  nave  postponed  the  failure  pf  the 
Yobf,  the  committee  believes  it  would 
require  th*  correction  of  all  those  list- 
ed from  1  te  0  to  convert  it  into  • 
safe  structure.  The  design,  apecifi. 
potions  and  construction  of  this  build- 
Ing  violated  flagrantly  the  building  lawa 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  many  r«- 

"P"  n  the  opinion  of  the  committee  thla 
disaster  was  th*  result  of  bad  practice 
on  the  part  of  the  architect  and  th* 
contractor.  Th*  .testimony  offered  at 
Ih*  coroneVa  lnnu**t  showed  that  th* 
architect  allowed  th*  contractor  to 
Chang*  th*  design  of  die  roof  framing 
end  that  he  did  not  check  th*  suffi- 
ciency of  th*  r>«»  design  but  Instead 
r.lied  on  the  check  of  the  computer  hi 
th*  •office  of  the  building  inspector. 
Ne  check  on  the  fubooorraetor's  drafts 
nan  was  mjrulred  for  detail*  of  con 
sfructlon.  -The  contractos  because  of 
the  substitution  of  a  new  design  was 
placed  in  tat  position  of  being  dlractlv 
responsible  for  the  design,  but  that  did 


nft  relieve  the  architect  of  hit  respooal 
bllttr  to  the  owner. 

"From  th*  number  ef  >i«1aUona  of 
tb*  building  code  It  Js  evident  that  tie 
designing  va*  cartlexalv  done  or  else, 
what  ia  worse,  the.  violations  we're  de- 
liberate. -To  hate  -the  Uupector  of 
buildings  assume  the  responaibllity  for 
the  sufficiency  of  the  detail*  of  th*  de- 
sign of  building*  would  b«  beyond  tb* 
Intent  of  the  faw.  It  would  virtually 
put  the  work  of  designing  building*  In 
th*  bands  of  the  Inspector  and  relieve 
the  architect  from  that  function  almos 
altogether. 

"Critica 
fied  Vtructura 
quired  for  tbe-ntructural  detail*  Involv- 
ed In  the  Construction  of  ever)  public 
building  of  Imnorunc*.  end  drawing* 
bearing  the  signature  of  the. engineer  as 
a  guarai.tee  of  the  adequacy  of  th*  de- 
aign  and  detail*  should  be  filed  with  th* 
inspector  of  buiTding*-  When  aa  archi- 
tect accepts  a  tee  for  (lone,  specifi- 
cations and  superintendence,  th*  owner 
ha*  a  right  to  espect  a  building  con- 
forming to  a)l  the  building  regulations 
and  the  function  of  an  inspection  de- 
partment should  not  be  te  relieve  the 
architect  fn>u>  the  responsibilities  which 
are  hi*.  At  the  aame  time  th*  heat  in- 
terests of  conscientious  contractors,  en- 
gitfeera,  architects  and  owner.,  as  well 
aa  those  of  th*  public  would  be  eerv- 
e<i  by  in  eiactini  anil  thorough  exam- 
ination of  general  plan*  by  dmtrlct  of- 
ficial*, followed  by  rigid  field  Inspec- 
tion, and  aucb  a  procedure  I*  not.  Im- 
practical. 

"Since  thra  catastrophe,  there  ha* 
been  much  agitation  advocating  that  the 
district  be  provided  with  a  new  set  of 
building  laws,  but  it  i*  here  emphasised 
that  auch  lawa  will  not  insure  Against 
failures  of  tbl*  kind  if  their  enforce- 
ment i*  not  insured.  Valuable  aa  a 
simplification  of  th*  cod*  would  be, 
the  firnt  need  is  fnr  the  enforcement 
of  the  law*.  It  ia  believed  that  If  the 
proper'  district  authorities:  ar*  provided 
by  Congress  with 'the  funds  necessary 
to  carry  out  the  proper  examination  of 
plan*  and  Inspection  of  building  work 
and  areVheld  itrictly  accountable  for- the 
enforcement  of  regulation*  to  thf  ex- 
tent Indicated  «n  the  preceding  para- 
graph* the  danger  of  the  recurrence  of 
mich  a  horror  will  have  been  greatly  lee- 
lened.  The  men  employed  should  be 
selected  aolely  by  merit  and  the.  sal- 
Rri«*  ebduld  be  *uch  a*  to  Usore  a 
first-class,  technically-trained^  person- 

"T»«  lesson  in  this  fallore,"  said  T. 
U  Cone'ron.  a  consulting  engineer  of 
Chicogo.  in  an  address  before  the  Wtat- 
ern  Rociery  of  Engineers,  on  alsrch  1ft. 
"la  that  the  structural  Aentgn  of  build- 
ing* cannot  b*  *ntm*tee>  to  antone 
who  I*  not  qualified  by  tracing  and  ex- 
perience to  take  full  respotiaibiiitj  tat 


SUGGESTS  SUNOH  FOR 

LICENSING  ram 

National    Official  Says    Stat* 

Boards  Should  Unite  on 

Requirements. 

•It  seem*  perfectly  feasible  far  the 

various  *Ut*  licensing  boards  to  unite) 
sjpon  a  common  level  and  provide  for 
a  standard  that  would  b*  acceptable  to 
all  for  the  reciprocal  interchang.  of 
registration,"  said  C.  8.  Hammatt,  tfrea- 
ideot  of  the  National  Council  of  8tata> 
Board  of  Engineering  Examiner*,  at  the 
first  conference  of  practicing  engineers, 
held  under  th*  ausplcss  of  th*  Ameri- 
can Association  of  Engineers  at  the 
Coheres*  Hotel.  Chicago,  February  22. 
1022.  "Insofar,  however,  as  various 
state*  may  provide,  for  the  regis,- 
terine  professional  engineers  with  Jen 
qualifications  than  might  be  prescribed 
by  the  council,  thoae  boards  should  Issue 
their  certificates  to  conform  with  their 
laws  without  th*  teal  of  approval  of 
the  reciprocity. 

"The  operation  of  registering  law*  for 
professional  engineers  has  proved  a  ben- 
efit to  thoae  engaged  in  the  profusion. 
aa  well  a*  a  protection  to  the  public,  and 
there  seems  but  little  doubt  but  that 
every  (tale  in  the  Union  will  eventually 
adopt  a  law  covering  this  protection  ia 
one  form  or  another. 

"The  National  ConndJ  of  But* 
Board*  of  Engineering  Examiners  at  Its 
meeting  Io  October  will  no  doubt  pro- 
vide some  baits  for  reciprocity  la  li- 
censing, .whereby  th*  various  utatc 
boards  can  repose  confidence  In  each 
other  and  Issue  certificates  upon  the 
>  application  of  thorn  engineers 
ng  from  other  states  who«e  board* 
have  put  their  approval  upoa  the  quali- 
fications baaed  on  a  uniform  standard. 
We  may,  therefore,  content  ourselves) 
with  th*  knowledge  that  reciprocity  of 
•tate  registration  law*  it  being  whipped 
Into  shape. 


ARKANSAS  DEMOCRAT, 
SUNDAY.  MARCH.  26,  1822. 


The  Sunday  edition  of  this  newspaper  contains  a  department,  "What 
the  Engineers  are  Doing."  This  department  is  conducted  by  the  local 
Association  chapter.  The  text  matter  for  this  issue  was  taken  from 
the  bulletin  illustrated  on  the  opposite  page. 


58  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

The  Reclamation  Service  was  possibly  the  first 
Government  bureau  that  went  deliberately  into 
the  distribution  of  information  about  its  work,  be- 
cause Dr.  Newell,  the  former  director,  felt  its  life 
depended  upon  the  taxpayers  knowing  what  was 
being  done.  At  that  time  it  was  the  unwritten 
law  that  no  news  should  ever  be  given  out  from  a 
Government  office.  It  was  necessary  to  wait  for 
the  annual  publication,  which  was  sometimes  four 
months  late  going  through  the  public  printer's 
office. 

So,  in  defiance  of  all  regulations  and  precedents 
and  rules,  this  bureau  started  out  with  the  theory 
•that  no  newspaper  man  should  ever  leave  the  office 
without  getting  some  information. 

The  plan  was  started  by  having  on  a  certain  bul- 
letin board  a  set  of  flimsies  every  morning.  A 
dozen  or  twenty  flimsies  were  put  there,  stating  in 
a  hundred  words  anything  that  would  show  prog- 
ress. The  newspaper  men  got  into  the  habit  of 
coming  and  reading  them,  and  if  they  were  greatly 
interested  they  would  write  out  a  story  on  the  basis 
of  that  little  outline.  Some  made  of  them  a  long 
story  for  the  Sunday  magazines,  while  others 
would  put  those  items  on  the  wire  as  press  dis- 
patches. 

The  success  of  many  movements — take  the  for- 
estry movement  for  example — has  been  due  to 
simply  showering  the  country  with  little,  short 
statements  of  what  was  being  done,  until  the 
people  were  educated  to  the  fact  that  there  was 
such  a  thing  as  forestry. 


WAYS  AND  MEANS  THAT  BRING  PUBLICITY       59 


A  Clip  Sheet  for  Editors.  It  is  important  to  get 
publicity  in  the  local,  small-town  newspaper.  The 
Chemical  Round  Table  illustrated  on  page  56  is  a 
good  example  of  a  press  bulletin,  put  out  in  the 


CHIEF  OF 
PUBLIC  INFORMATION 


1    SPECIAL 
MAILING  LISTS    | 

STATISTICAL 
RESEARCH 

1 

IPU&LICATION&  )        |  INFORMATION 


REPORTS 

PHOTOGRAPHS 

SCOUTING  FOR 

BULLETINS 

MOTION  PICTURES 

NEWS    IDEAS 

BOOKS 

INFORMATION*  FOR 

REPORTS  OF  AS- 

HOUSE ORSAN 

WRITERS 

SOCIATION  AND 

ARTICLES  FOR 

NEWS    NOTES 

TRADE  ACTIVITY 

PUSLICATION 

ANSWERING  UNUSUAL 

PUBLIC  AOORCSSIS 

REQUESTS 

EXHIBITS  A  NO 

EXHI&lTINO 

Functional   organization   plan   for   a   unit   of   the   United   States 
Government. 

right  form,  printed  on  one  side  of  the  paper,  with 
proper  leads  to  the  paragraphs,  headlines,  and  news 
matter.  All  the  editor  needs  to  do  is  to  take  his 
scissors  and  cut  out  what  he  wants  to  fill  any  space 
he  may  have  available  at  that  time. 

At   intervals  many  engineering  items  are   sent 
out  in  this  bulletin  with  considerable  success.    But 


60  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

newspapers  are  flooded  with  similar  press  bulle- 
tins. They  get  them  from  manufacturing  concerns 
and  from  everywhere.  Sometimes  editors  will 
look  through  all  they  receive,  but  more  often  they 
look  only  at  the  ones  that  happen  to  be  on  their 
desks  when  they  want  to  fill  some  space. 

By  sending  a  bulletin,  perhaps  several  items 
but  preferably  on  a  single  item,  to  an  engineer  or 
some  other  friend  in  a  town,  and  asking  him  to 
take  it  up  with  the  editor  personally,  the  editor 
will  always  give  more  consideration  to  the  item. 
With  that  kind  of  work,  personal  contact  with  the 
editor  who  selects  news  items,  there  is  a  good  deal 
of  advantage.  The  press  bulletin  is  a  fine  thing, 
but  it  always  succeeds  better  if  it  is  sent  to  a  local 
engineer  to  be  handed  to  .the  editor.  If,  however, 
this  representative  takes  a  whole  string  of  items 
and  hands  them  in,  they  are  likely  to  meet  the 
same  fate  as  if  they  were  mailed. 

What  a  Central  Publicity  Organization  Can  Do. 
A  central  clearing  house,  well  established,  can  col- 
lect, select,  prepare,  and  disseminate  material  each 
week  to  all  of  these  men,  for  immediate  newspaper 
use.  The  material  might  consist  at  first  of  popu- 
larized stories  of  local  application  taken  from  the 
technical  journals  and  society  publications.  A 
story  on  the  general  interstate  water  resource 
problem  might  interest  several  Western  states, 
whereas  an  account  or  editorial  opinion  on  a 
bridge  failure  in  Ohio  might  not  be  of  such  wide- 
spread interest.  Nevertheless,  Detroit  papers  where 
a  similar  bridge  is  proposed  might  welcome  such 


WAYS  AND  MEANS  THAT  BRING  PUBLICITY       61 

information.  There  should  also  be  collected  and 
kept  available  literature  on  how  other  cities  or 
states  have  handled  engineering  publicity  cam- 
paigns, for  such  things  as  licensing,  roads,  water 
purification,  and  other  public  improvements. 

With  several  general  articles  prepared  and  on 
hand  each  week,  it  should  be  a  comparatively  easy 
matter  for  -the  local  agent  to  select  one  which 
would  be  of  local  benefit.  Eventually  a  mutual 
understanding  with  the  editor  should  lead  the  lat- 
ter to  rely  upon  the  engineer's  judgment  in  select- 
ing suitable  engineering  material  for  his  pages. 

In  some  states  the  state  society  publicity  com- 
mittee might  act  as  a  relay  station  between  the  cen- 
tral clearing  house  and  the  individuals,  sending 
the  syndicated  material,  when  of  sufficient  state 
interest,  to  a  large  number  of  its  members. 

A  manual  on  engineering  publicity  should  be 
available,  telling  the  local  publicity  committee 
how  its  work  can  be  done,  what  is  news,  how  to 
deal  with  the  local  editor,  how  to  write  a  lead  para- 
graph. Topical  outlines  could  well  be  included. 


IOIROTAYDAM 
HIGHEST  IYPE  OF 
ENGINEERING  ARI 

This  Is  Statement  of  Dr.  New- 
ell at  Banquet  Given  in  His 
Honor. 

A  *«,<,„«_  inbonor  ol  Dr.  r««:j 


Know  YOUR  Chicago 

The  American  Association  of  Engineers 

By  L.  A.  Dvmona,  llanagcr  Civic  /ndu.frtol  Deportment,  ttn  OMeafO 

Asioclalrfn  of  Commerce. 


ENGINEERS  Ml 
•PUBLIC  WORKS 
DEPARTMENT 


pHICAGO  IB  the  birthplace  and  present  headquarter*  of  On  on.  universal 

engineering  society  In  the  United  States-the  American  Association 

or  engineers.    In  1J15  a  email  group  of  Chicago  men  organized  the  aieocl-  

atlon  to  promote  the  social  and  economic  welfare  or  profeMlon.1  engineer'.  Tidewater    Chapter     SatUF- 
^.  chemical.  electric.,,  mechanic.,  and  m,n,.g.  day    Nign,    To    Discuss 

tn  four  years  the  association^  has  developed  Into  a  national  orgtnlia-  PrODOSal 


tlon  or  7,000  members,  growing  now  at  the  rate  of  almost  1,000  members 
s  month.    Only  a  few  months  ago.  on  January  I,  1919.  the  membership.  A  *J 

of!  will' 


Virginia  Chapter  of 


A  *ar,qurt  to  honor  of  Dr.  Fred- ;  wu  2.300.    Ten  thousand  members  by  1920-  Is  the  membership  slogan  ot!  »">  hold  their  regular  monthly*  , 
iffi^d^tpli  AS^?^!  O,,  A.  A.  R.  and  .,  the  present  rat.  of  growth  th.  officer,  expect  l^gSS^STJS^lSlSi 

KtaM»Bfes  r"  &*•::•.  ««*«  *>  "  «'""*<•  Ls^«"sSFj5su; 


K 

»nd    county 

of  the  engli 

«lty.  Tom  H.  King,  presld 
the  San  Diego  club  of  the  An 
Association  of  Engineers,  was 

who    Is  "one    of    the 

ten  In  th«  engincvlng  pVo- 
In   this  country,    made   the 
inclpal     address   of    the   evening. 


More  than  seventy-fl»e  local  chapters  and  cjnbs  ba»e  been  established 
throughout  the  country.  District  offices  are  maintained  to  New  York. 
Washington  and  Pittsburgh  and  a  ourth  Is  about  to  open  In  Sao  rran- 


Iwelllng 


human  side    of 
and    profusion. 
entirely  every- 
ested 


ndon.,mo, 
hlnr    technical    or   that    sugge 
•hop."    He  was  the  first  chief 
Ineer  of  the  United  States  roclama- 
loo   ssrrlce   and    Its   first   director. 
nd  has  been  Connected  with  motit 


ENGINEERS' CLUB - 

SITOBEHOSTIIE 

TO  FREE  BRIDGE 

F.  H.  Gerhart  Declares  at 
Hearing  on  $22,000,000 
Bond  fcsue  That  Railroads 
Control  Body. 

SPEAKER  ARGUES  FOR 
EAST  SIDE  APPROACH 

Opposition  Voiced  to  Items 
for  Improvement  of  River 
de»  Peres  and  Elimination 
of  Grade  Crossings. 

At  tb*  flrat  public  hearing  an  • 


BYENGINEERS 

TOAIDFOSTER 

JAsBOciatioh  Pledges  Sup- 
port to  Anti-Leslie  Candi- 
date for  Commissioner. 


V.  Poster  of  McKwsport 
county  commissioner  on  the  »nti- 
|Lc*lie  Republican  ticket    Recognizing 
Poster 

office,  because  of  the 
ring    pr 


cumulating  co| 
valuable 


=.,.  J.OTEO  ENGINEER 
flPPEIlLS  TO 
Wo  'HERE 


)EPARTMENT  TO  BE  SHORT    I 
FOR  NEW  BONO  ISSUE  WORK 

Amendment  to  Be  Suggested  Pro-Says   Association   Something 


vfdin,  4700,000  Allotment  fori 
Payment  of  Additional  Engineer. 
and  Administration  Ezpentei.  ' 


More     Than     Labor 
Union  Move 


Tenth 

rs'  Club  at  being  hostile  to  the 
Orlar.  and  of  being  controlled 
>'  th«  esllroad  latereMs. 

•(•Mr  vm  rwented  br  3.  W  Woer- 
n«n.  a  member  or  the  club,  who  uaid* 
he  club  In  Its  bond  tame  report  had 
ippnud  an  appropriation  of  II. ISO,- 
'00  for  bridge  wpro&ch 


iiUqunte  approach 


:    It.  < 


K\  K.VTK  Il\  KK    HKI.Ii   IX    DIMTUKT. 

«DKKT   KKWKM,   WAS   DKTAI.XKD    I'NTII.    TOItAV    I)K-«.X     III  T- 

l.»Jt  OK  f.MI'KRMTV   AUUO.NA    >IA1»K  hl'l,K\l)IIl  ADDKKSv 

HAVK.      MO~\VK\  Kit,    HKK.V    MADK    I-X>U    liKCKP- 
T10\  Til  DR.  XRftKM.  AT  n.     It.       MUltAHV       HI  II.DIXJJ       AT 
«llX>Uft     THIS     KVKMNR — M.I.   I.M.IM  I  !!•.  »»'  filMTKICT  ARK 
ATTKSB  TOXIUHT.S  S'KSSD.V. 


Wkllc.il  <nts  <ni«  Hut  Or.  F    H 


he  Anerkan  AcsocloUon  Of  Engl- 
eers  wa«  UMbl*  to  r«ac»  •Miami 
in*  for  («e  »«  «ngla«ers- 


Dr.  V.  H.  Newell,  president  of 
the  American  Association  of  Engi- 
;  to  the  engineers  of 
i  and  Riverside  coun- 
at  the  Glenwood  Mis- 
ppealed  to  the  men  prcs- 
lent  to  become  associated  with  the 
National  body,  not  as  a  labor  union, 

he  characterized  as  an  organ- 

ation    tending    to    stifle    individual 


We  believe  >n  increased  pro- 
luction  and  efficiency  and  in  get- 
ing  more,  rather  than  Ices  out  of 
he  individual."  he  said,  "while  ths 
abor  union  grades  men  down  and 
ooks  toward  a  reduced  level  for 
he  average  per  mnn  production." 
T.,e  speaker  reviewed  at  len<rtfc 
the  .important  work  of  the  civil. 
•Metrical,  mechanical  and  similar  en- 
nd  called  attention  to  ths 


pf^lbe    Miami  (Y.    M.    C.    A. 


Typical  newspaper  articles  published  in  1916  about  engineering  associa- 
tion activities. 


CHAPTER  IV 

GETTING  NEWS  IN  THE  NEWSPAPERS 

The  Most  Important  Publicity  Medium.  The 
most  and  the  best  publicity  for  engineers,  under 
all  ordinary  circumstances,  will  result  from  news- 
paper articles  and  news  items.  If  every  engineer 
spent  a  year  as  a  newspaper  reporter,  then  put  to 
use  his  knowledge  of  how  to  write  in  preparing 
newspaper  notices  of  engineering,  publicity  for  en- 
ineers  would  not  be  lacking.  But  the  average 
enineer,  though  he  reads  his  newspaper  every  day, 
needs  a  better  conception  of  how  a  piece  of  news 
needs  to  be  handled  in  order  to  make  the  editor 
look  on  it  as  desirable  news.  No  part  of  his  train- 
ing gives  him  this  knowledge.  His  reports  may 
be  satisfactory  enough  as  engineering  reports,  but 
the  same  type  of  writing  does  not  get  the  news- 
paper man's  approval. 

Learn  to  Write  Non-Technically.  A  Chicago 
editor  said  to  a  group  of  engineers  who  were  dis- 
cussing publicity  and  newspaper  articles: 

"So  many  of  you  can't  write  in  non-technical 
fashion.  As  soon  as  the  ordinary  engineer  sits 
down  to  address  himself  to  any  topic  that  may 
be  of  popular  interest,  he  becomes  lost  in  a  maze 
of  technicalities.  The  engineer  wants  to  draw  a 
shadowgraph,  giving  all  of  the  points  and  labeling 
them.  He  wants  to  look  through  the  appearance 

63 


64  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

of  the  bridge,  which  is  all  the  public  is  interested 
in,  and  tell  how  many  tons  of  steel  comprise  it, 
what  -the  strength  of  it  is,  and  its  factor  of  safety, 
and  the  public  has  no  desire  to  familiarize  itself 
with  such  details." 

We  All  Speak  Two  Languages.  Perhaps  the 
greatest  difficulty  is  that  most  men  don't  realize 
they  speak  two  languages,  their  professional  lan- 
guage and  ordinary  everyday  language.  They 
should  be  able  readily  to  translate  their  profes- 
sional terms  into  the  language  of  the  people.  Take 
some  fairly  complex  piece  of  machinery  and  de- 
scribe it  as  you  would  to  a  jury.  That  is  a  true 
test  whether  you  can  write  clearly  and  simply,  in 
a  way  that  will  be  understandable  to  all.  A  lawyer 
once  said  that  he  never  knew  what  a  simple  mat- 
ter the  theory  of  bridge  stresses  was  until  he  heard 
an  engineer  explain  it  to  a  jury  in  a  bridge  damage 
suit  case.  That  it  a  high  tribute  to  that  engineer. 

There  is  no  single  agency  at  the  present  time 
which  offers  such  possibilities  in  publicity  as  the 
daily  newspapers.  The  immense  circulation  of  the 
larger  dailies  and  the  universal  use  of  this  form 
of  reading  matter  by  citizens  of  all  classes  make 
the  newspaper  a  medium  of  unsurpassed  value  in 
placing  information  before  the  public. 

Two  Kinds  of  Newspaper  Articles.  Engineering 
publicity  in  newspapers  is  usually  confined  to  news 
stories  or  feature  articles.  The  former  recount  the 
current  events  in  the  engineering  world,  and  the 
latter  concern  some  special  feature  prepared  in  a 
more  formal  style  for  presentation  in  the  feature 


GETTING  NEWS  IN  THE  NEWSPAPERS  65 

or  magazine  section  of  the  Sunday  paper  or  a  spe- 
cial page  of  the  daily  issue.  The  latter  type  of 
article  is  more  difficult  to  prepare  and  have  pub- 
lished because  of  the  greater  necessity  for  having 
such  a  feature  section  contain  material  which  ap- 
peals to  the  greatest  possible  number  of  readers. 
The  possibilities  of  this  kind  of  publicity,  however, 
are  great. 

Learning  to  Recognize  News  Value.  In  any 
efforts  to  obtain  publicity  through  the  publication 
of  news,  the  publicity  man  must  search  for  those 
news  values  of  the  events  of  the  profession  and 
the  Association  which  will  appeal  to  the  greatest 
number  of  readers.  We  must,  if  we  are  to  deal 
in  human  relations,  take  cognizance  of  public 
opinion  and  be  sensitive  to  popular  interest.  If 
the  Association  is  to  serve  the  public  well  it  must 
keep  the  public  acquainted  with  its  activities  in 
behalf  of  the  public.  To  acquaint  the  public  the 
Association  must  rely  largely  upon  news.  The 
special  features  of  the  Association's  activities  which 
will  appeal  to  the  newspaper's  readers  must  be 
sought  for  and  displayed  as  a  means  of  acquaint- 
ing the  people  with  the  efforts  that  are  being  made, 
even  though  these  features  may  not  be  the  most 
important  from  the  Association  standpoint.  In  ad- 
dition to  this  we  must  continually  bend  our  efforts 
to  educate  newspaper  editors  to  a  better  appre- 
ciation of  engineering  news. 

How  to  Select  News.  The  elements  of  news 
value  may  be  classified  as  follows : 

i.  The  unusual,  the  extraordinary  and  the    cu- 


LEGISLATURE  HAS 
SLEEPING  SICKNESS, 

SAYS  DR.  EVANS 


gineers   Should   Have  Been 
Licensed  Long  Ago  —  Are 
Preparing  Bill  Now. 

That  the  doctors  of  the  state  will  help 
r«,  the  engineers   to   get  a  bill   through   the 

*  **e  legislature     requiring    the    licensing    of 

engineers,  just  as  physicians  are  licensed, 
First  is    indicated    by    the    promise    of    several 

prominent  doctors  to  speak  at  the  meet- 
ing  of  the  local  chapter  of  the  American 
Association  of  Engineers  Monday  even- 
ing. 

Dr.  Harlon  Evans,  in  commenting  yes- 
terday upon  the  address  he  expects  to 
deliver,  characterized  the  legislature  as 
suffering  from  sleeping  sickness.  "En- 
gineers should  have  been  licensed  long 
ago  as  a  protection  to  the  public.1'  he 
said.  Dr.  Evans  has  pledged  his  support 
to  the  movement  being  instituted  by  the 
engineers. 

Drs.   Hbrace   Linden  and   F.   R.   Hasley 
will  also  speak  at  the  meeting,  which  is 
to   be   held    in   the  chapter  rooms    in    the 
Elks'   building. 
City   Engineer  H.    R.   Ladd   will    speak 

ENGINEERS  WILL  DISCUSS 
LICENSING  TONIGHT 


(/  The  proposal  that  engineers  be  licensed 
by  the  state  in  the  same  way  that  doc- 
tors are  licensed  will  be  discussed  to- 
nigh^at  the  regular  meeting  of  the 
•••I  chapter  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation  of  Engineers  at  the  Elks'  club. 

Second  The  engineers  say  that  the  public  has 

no  way  at  present  of  telling  whether  an 

DaV  engineer    is    really    competent   or   not    to 

perform  the  duties  for  which  he  is  en- 
gaged. A  state  license  law  is  expected 
to  eliminate  quack  engineers  as  quack 
doctors  have  been  eliminated. 

H.  R.  Ladd,  city  engineer,  will  speak 
to  the  engineers  on  "The  Engineer  as  a 
Public  Official." 

According  to  an  announcement  of  Sec- 


Following  up  news,    (a) 


ENGINEERS  TO 

FORM  A  STATE 

ORGANIZATION 


Eight  Chapters  to  Join  in  Pass- 
ing State  License  Law. 

CITY  ENGINEER  DECLARES 

ENGINEERS     BEST 

OFFICIALS. 


A  decision  to  form  a  state  assembly 
to  include  all  chapters  and  clubs  of  tho 
American  Association  of  Kngineers  in 
the  state  was  made  at  a  meeting  lasrt 
night  of  the  local  chapter  of  that  body. 
There  are  ciyht  chapters  and  Clubs  of 
the  association  In  the  state  and  assur- 
ances have  been  received  that  they  will 
join  with  the  ^jjff^  chapter  in  forming 
th^  state  organization.  This  will  be  the  The 

first  society  of  engineers  in  the  state. 
The  total  membership  will  be  over  1.000.  Storv 

•There    is    no    reason    why    engineers  iJUMjr 

should  not  till  eight  positions  in  the  city 
administration  out  of  ten.''  declared  City 
Engineer  H  R.  Ladd,  in  speaking  on 
The  Engineer  as  a  Public  Official 

That  engineers  make  the  best  timber 
for  public  commissioners  and  similar 
offices  was  another  assertion  Mr.  Ladd 
made.  He  also  maintained  that  the  pub- 
lic has  lost  thousands  of  dollars  in 
money  wasted  by  politicians. 

"Dry  goods  merchants  and  ward  heel- 
ers have  had  their  day  as  public  officials 
in  charge  of  engineering  works."  said 
Mr.  Ladd  "From  now  on  we  can  expect 
the  public  to  be  discerning  enough  to 
select  men  for  positions  requiring  en- 
gineering training  of  the  man  in  office. 
Street  commissioners,  county  commis- 
sioners. members  of  boards  of  public 
works  —  such  positions  as  these  can  be 
adequately  filled  only  by  engineers. 

"These  boards  and  commissions  need 
not  be  filled  with  engineers,  but  there 
should  be  a  large  enough  number  to 
insure  that  the  public  funds  appropriated 
for  engineering  works  are  conserved. 
There  are  few  functions  of  civiliza- 


Following  up  news,    (b) 


68  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

rious.      Something   which    upsets    the    humdrum 
routine  of  life. 

2.  Struggles  of  supremacy,  such  as  business  com- 
petition, contest  in  sports,  political  rivalry,  strikes, 
and  in  general  any  struggle  for  victory. 

3.  Human  interest  or  emphasis  on  the  personal 
element  of  the  affairs  of  life. 

4.  Politics. 

5.  The  home  and  business. 

6.  The  appeal  of  the  helpless,  such  as  children 
and  animals. 

7.  Amusements,   sports   and   pastimes,   such   as 
photographing,  fishing,  hunting,  chess,  and  many 
avocations. 

The  essential  of  all  news  is  that  it  must  be 
timely.  There  is  a  great  tendency  on  the  part  of 
those  not  thoroughly  acquainted  with  news  gather- 
ing to  disregard  timeliness — the  essential  feature. 
There  is  no  such  thing  in  the  journalist's  lexicon 
as  "up-to-date";  the  expression  he  uses  is  "up-to- 
the-minute."  News  must  be  served  while  hot  in 
order  to  be  most  appealing. 

Write  So  John  Smith  Can  Understand.  The  man 
writing  engineering  items  for  the  public  to  read 
in  the  newspapers  may  well  keep  in  mind  the  fol- 
lowing incident  which  occurred  between  two  ma- 
gazine contributors: 

One  asked  the  other,  "Why  is  it  I  can  get  my 
articles  printed  in  such  and  such  a  magazine,  but 
I  can't  break  into  the  Saturday  Evening  Post  to  save 
my  life?"  The  other  writer  said,  "I  will  tell  you 
why.  You  write  for  the  highbrows,  and  I  write 
for  the  general  public." 


Varied   Types4  *f  Appeal 
are   Needed 


TUE  IDEA. 


PUBLIC  INFORMATION 

BUREAU 


THE 

GENE,R; 

XI^     PUBLIC 

| 

i 

1          1 

OR 
CLASS 

HOME 
OR 

HEALTH 

BUSINESS* 
PROFESSION 

PATRIOTISM 
OR, 

RELIGION 

RFCBIATION 
OR 
PLEASURE 

THIS  chart  shows  how  the  ap- 
peal of  an  idea  may  be  directed 
to  the  part  of  the  general  public 
which  is  most  interested  in  each  par- 
ticular element.  The  type  of  appeal  is 
different  for  different  units  of  the 
public,  for  there  are  many  "publics" 
and  each  part  of  the  "general  public" 
has  its  own  peculiarities  and  must  be 
appealed  to  accordingly. 


70  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

It  may  be  difficult  for  some  technical  men  to 
write  in  John  Smith's  style.  One  newspaper  edi- 
tor gives  this  instruction  to  each  new  reporter: 
"We  have  an  old  fellow  named  Herman  Miller, 
living  up  on  Lost  Creek.  He  has  not  much  of  an 
education,  but  he  reads  the  Dispatch.  I  want  you 
to  write  every  article  so  old  Herman  Miller  can 
understand  it.  If  he  can  understand  it  everybody 
else  can."  That  is  the  way  to  write  engineering 
articles. 

The  interest  of  newspaper  readers  in  events 
closely  related  to  their  own  lives  may  be  turned  to 
good  account  by  local  publicity  committees.  When 
the  methods  of  presenting  news  are  thoroughly 
understood,  there  will  seldom  be  any  action  taken 
by  a  chapter  which  cannot  be  made  the  basis  of 
one  or  more  news  stories. 

The  local  engineering  events  must  be  interpreted 
in  stories  which  will  interest  the  public.  We  must 
not  think  that  we  can  mould  journalism  until  it 
accepts  news  presented  from  a  purely  engineering 
standpoint.  It  will  do  no  good  to  resent  the  jour- 
nalistic custom  which  prompts  a  reporter  to  over- 
look what  the  engineer  thinks  is  the  meat  of  the 
subject  and  display  some  matter  of  trivial  engi- 
neering importance.  Instead,  it  is  necessary  to 
seek  the  elements  of  each  piece  of  news  which 
have  the  greatest  appeal  to  the  public  and  feature 
them  as  news  pegs  which  will  carry  the  more  im- 
portant engineering  features. 

Picking  the  Points  of  News  Value.  This  will 
illustrate.  Suppose  a  chapter  has  listened  to  an 


How  a  local  society  dinner  was  made  interesting. 


A  NEWS  picture  showing  the  offi- 
cial opening  of  inter-city  com- 
mercial radio  communication  in  New 
York  City  by  Mayor  Hylan  and 
others.  Mayor  Hylan  is  shown  in 
the  center  of  the  picture  with  Dr.  Lee 
DeForest  on  his  left.  The  tall  man 
at  the  right  of  the  picture  is  E.  W. 
Sawyer,  Member  A.  A.  E.,  who  is 
interested  in  the  wireless  company. 


Engineers  dedicate  a  new  bridge  in  Charleston,  W.  Va. 


This  is  the  bridge  that  was  dedicated  as  a  civic  institution. 


A  window  exhibit  during  Engineers'  Week  in  Missoula,  Montana. 


A  state  fair  exhibit  made  by  the  Yakima  (Washington)   Chapter. 


GETTING  NEWS  IN  THE  NEWSPAPERS  75 

address  by  an  eminent  sanitary  engineer  on  the 
construction  plans  for  a  proposed  filtration  plant. 
If  his  address  has  discussed  the  construction  of 
the  plant  in  detail  and  he  has  actually  said  very 
little  of  the  other  features  of  the  project,  the  public 
will  not  be  particularly  interested  in  an  account 
of  his  speech.  But  suppose  that  in  the  course  of 
his  talk  he  has  made  a  statement  to  the  effect  that 
through  the  reduction  in  the  number  of  cases  of 
typhoid  one  hundred  lives  in  the  city  would  be 
saved  every  year.  There  is  a  feature  of  his  talk 
which  the  public  can  take  to  heart.  If  a  news- 
paper reporter  were  present  to  cover  the  speech 
he  would  no  doubt  seize  upon  this  statement  as 
the  feature  of  the  evening.  So  in  sending  a  report 
of  the  speech  to  the  paper,  the  publicity  man  should 
feature  this  important  part  of  the  speech  and  hang 
on  it  the  other  facts  which  will  indicate  to  the 
public  the  importance  of  the  engineer's  work. 

In  reporting  engineering  occurrences  of  all  kinds 
a  publicity  man  must  seek  the  features  which  in- 
terest the  public.  It  may  be  difficult  to  find  them. 
It  takes  an  unusually  keen  nose  for  news  to  be 
infallible  in  selecting  the  pertinent  feature  of  every 
item.  In  order  to  make  this  selection  as  success- 
ful as  possible  the  publicity  man  must  know  what 
are  the  particular  news  features  in  which  the  public 
is  interested. 

Sometimes  there  is  a  little  twist  that  you  can 
give  to  an  otherwise  lifeless  and  unattractive  story 
that  will  make  it  eagerly  accepted.  A  story  once 
went  out  concerning  the  alcohol  industry,  and  be- 


76  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

cause  it  was  called  "Drinking  the  Legs  Off  of  the 
Kitchen  Table,"  the  story  was  widely  used.  It 
was  based  on  a  little  thing  by  Mark  Twain.  He 
said,  "As  long  as  a  man  can  saw  off  the  legs  of 
the  kitchen  table  and  extract  alcohol  from  them, 
we  shall  never  have  prohibition  in  this  country/' 
That  story  got  over  on  account  of  the  twist  that 
it  was  given. 

You  can  take  an  idea  and  put  a  twist  in  it  in 
that  way,  and  you  will  get  the  attention  of  a  big 
audience;  not  merely  an  engineering  audience,  but 
a  much  larger  audience. 

"Turning  the  News."  Then  there  is  another 
point,  the  idea  of  turning  the  news.  The  question 
of  licensing  engineers  is  a  more  or  less  abstract 
subject,  remote  from  people's  lives.  They  admit 
it  is  a  good  thing,  but  it  is  hard  to  create  en- 
thusiasm on  the  subject.  So  in  order  to  command 
much  attention,  it  will  be  more  or  less  necessary 
to  wait  for  the  psychological  moment. 

But  let  me  assume  that  some  horrible  disaster 
occurs;  that  a  movie  theatre  should  fall  down, 
burying  many  people  underneath  it.  You  would 
ascertain  whether  that  particular  structure  was 
constructed  by  a  licensed  engineer;  if  not,  then 
applying  the  old  rule  of  doing  something,  you 
would  immediately  go  to  the  state  or  the  city 
building  inspector,  who  has  charge  of  that  work 
and  say,  "We  now  demand  that  you  put  an  ordi- 
nance on  the  books  saying  that  only  licensed  en- 
gineers may  put  up  moving  picture  theatres."  You 
would  then  have  dealt  with  a  practical  question 


GETTING  NEWS  IN  THE  NEWSPAPERS  77 

affecting  the  newspaper's  intercourse  with  the 
public,  the  item  of  turning  the  news. 

Remember,  the  newspapers  only  say  "yester- 
day," or  "to-day,"  showing  the  public  that  it  is 
something  fresh  that  demands  attention  now. 
When  the  movie  theatre  falls  down  and  you  go 
right  away  and  say,  "Now,  because  this  occupies 
the  popular  mind,  we  want  this  reform  effected," 
you  have  gotten  the  center  of  the  stage ;  it  becomes 
a  matter  of  immediate  and  pressing  importance 
to  the  public,  and  you  have  satisfied  the  require- 
ments of  the  newspapers. 

How  Material  Gets  into  a  Newspaper.  This  brief 
explanation  of  the  way  material  gets  into  news- 
papers, given  by  a  city  editor,  will  help  you  see 
how  news  items  are  selected: 

"When  you  come  into  a  newspaper  office  to  see 
the  city  editor,  he  is,  I  assure  you,  glad  to  receive 
you,  because  he  is  in  the  position  of  a  merchant 
who  is  receiving  salesmen  from  various  establish- 
ments handling  various  lines  which  he  has  to  pur- 
chase. These  products  are  items  of  news  which 
he  can  sell  in  turn  to  the  public.  So  he  is  never 
too  busy,  although  he  might  seem  so,  to  be  in- 
terested in  what  you  have  to  say. 

"The  city  editor  employs  trained  men  who  rep- 
resent him — trained  reporters.  Now,  a  reporter  is 
a  person  who  has,  in  the  same  sense  as  a  city  edi- 
tor, to  use  judgment  as  to  news.  News  judgment, 
is  an  instinctive  comprehension  of  what  the  public 
will  read  and  what  they  will  not  read.  You  may 
apply  this  test  to  your  own  affairs,  and  you  can 


April  15  American  Engineering  Council 

of  the 
Federated  American  Engineering  Societies 

Office  of  the  Publicity  Director 
Room  101,  29  West  39  Street,  Hew  York  City 

NEWS  SCHEDULES  FOB  EDITORS 

Editors:   Events  listed  "on  Schedule  "A"  are  for 
the  information  of  editors,  who,  in  each  case, 
should  communicate  with  the  secretary  of  the  local 
.  society  for  cooperation  in  covering.  The  machinery 
of  the  Council's  national  headquarters,  719  Fif- 
teenth Street,  K.  W.  .  Washington,  D.  C.  .  is  avail- 
able  whenever  '.practicable'.  Stories  listed  on 
Schedule  "B"  are  prepared  for  publication  in  com- 
plete form  and  will  be  supplied  promptly  upon  re- 

Suest  made  to  James  T.  Grady,  Publicity  Director, 
oom  101,  29  West  39  Street,  ffew  Yorfc  City,  Tele- 
phone, Longacre  7100,-  Extension  53. 

X.  W.  Wallace 

Executive  Secretary 

April  81  Rochester  'Engineering  Society  (Secret&ry, 

Gloster  P.  Hevenor,  52  City  Hall) 

Radio 
meeting 

April  22  Engineering  Society  ofBuffalo  (Secretary, 

II.  L.  Hussbaumer,  60  W.  Geaessee  Street,  Buffalo. 

Inspection  of 

the  power  station,  known  as  the  River  Station. 
on  the  Hiagara  River. 

April  26-28  Society  of  Industrial  Engineers         (Busi-v 

Manager,  .George  C.  Dent,   327  South  laP> 


SCH2D1LE  "B" 

1.  JUA.  E»S.   to  aid  Secretary  Hoover  in  gathering 
date  on  progress  oafte  by  industry  in  smoothing  out  business  cycle. 
Cooperation  of  all  Meaner  Societies  askod  in  nationwide  inquiry. 

2.  P.A.E.S.  Employment  Service  reports  improved  con- 
ditions.    Radio  development  a  factor.     (About  600  words-Ready.  ) 

3.  Boston  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  elects  offi- 
cers.    (About  150  words-Ready.) 

4.  Complete  running  story  of  convention  of  Society 
of  Inaistrial  Engineers,  Detroit.  April  26-26.    {About  1,500  vor* 


How  editors  are  aided  by  an  engineering  organization. 


GETTING  NEWS  IN  THE  NEWSPAPERS  79 

arrive  at  an  approximation  as  to  whether  or  not 
the  public  will  be  interested  in  what  you  have  to 
say. 

"A  man's  interest  centers  in  himself.  He  is  in- 
terested in  anything  which  concerns  himself.  Then 
it  radiates  from  himself  to  his  family,  to  his  job, 
his  means  of  transportation,  to  politics,  to  every- 
thing that  comes  into  his  life.  All  you  have  to 
do,  whenever  you  have  a  matter  which  you  think 
is  of  interest  to  the  papers,  is  to  say  to  yourself, 
'suppose  I  were  John  Jones  on  the  street  corner. 
I  am  not  an  engineer,  but  an  ordinary  citizen.  Is 
this  matter  which  I  have  in  mind  of  interest  to 
me,  John  Jones?' 

"Suppose  you  were  going  to  talk  about  employ- 
ing a  state  engineer.  There  are  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  automobiles  in  the  state.  We  are  all,  as 
automobile  owners,  interested  in  good  roads.  There 
you  have  an  argument  to  present  to  any  newspaper 
editor  for  publishing  material  about  a  state  engi- 
neer." 

It  is  a  fact  that  if  the  man  on  the  street  is  in- 
terested in  what  you  are  doing,  you  may  enter  a 
newspaper  office  and  be  assured  of  getting  your 
idea  in  print.  If  you  can  do  that,  you  have  solved 
the  difference  between  publicity  and  news. 

Areas  of  News  Interest.  Publicity  which  is  pub- 
lished in  form  of  news  stories  must  of  necessity 
be  handled  principally  by  local  chapters  and  clubs 
on  account  of  the  fact  that  local  news  is  in  greater 
demand  than  national  news  of  equal  importance. 
News  has  more  or  less  value  as  it  concerns  people 


8o  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

or  events  more  or  less  closely  related  to  the  reader. 
Local  news  takes  precedence  over  news  from  else- 
where of  equal  or  greater  importance  as  measured 
by  the  general  standards  of  news  value.  Stated 
in  the  form  of  a  rule,  we  may  say  interest  in  news 
stories  in  inversely  proportional  to  the  distance 
between  the  place  of  the  event  described  and  the 
place  where  the  news  story  is  published.  The  con- 
struction of  a  comparatively  insignificant  bridge 
over  the  river  in  our  own  city  has  a  greater  local 
news  value  than  the  construction  of  an  8oo-foot 
span  a  thousand  miles  away.  That  is  why  local 
chapters  and  clubs  are  so  important  in  publicity 
plans. 

Alexander  Black,  the  editor  of  the  King  Features 
Service,  has  given  engineers  some  very  pertinent 
and  valuable  suggestions  in  the  following  para- 
graphs on  how  to  describe  engineering  works  for 
newspapers. 

Remember  Your  Audience.  "No  suggestion  as 
to  the  essentials  of  popular  scientific  writing,  with 
newspapers  in  mind,  could  have  any  practical 
value  if  it  did  not  lay  stress  on  the  matter  of  the 
audience.  Good  writing  being  not  merely  the  ex- 
pression of  ideas  but  the  communication  of  ideas, 
the  first  step  toward  popular  acceptability  is  a 
step  straight  toward  the  reader. 

"Doing  a  thing  may  be  a  science.  Telling  about 
it  is  an  art.  So  far  as  the  writing  is  concerned, 
writing  about  science  must  meet  the  same  test  as 
writing  about  anything  else.  In  any  case  the  com- 
munication— that  is  to  say  the  art — must  be  as 
clear: 


GETTING  NEWS  IN  THE  NEWSPAPERS  81 

"First,  as  the  subject  demands; 
"Second,  as  the    character    of    the    audience 
demands; 

"Third,  as  the  situation  of  the  audience  de- 
mands. 

"The  situation  of  the  audience  is  often  over- 
looked. It  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  every 
one  recognizes  the  special  obligations  implied  by 
speaking  to  a  popular  audience  as  compared  with 
speaking  to  a  technical  audience.  What  is  not  so 
frequently  taken  for  granted  is  that  an  audience 
may  not  only  be  popular,  in  the  sense  of  being 
general,  but  that  it  may  occupy  different  situations 
affecting  the  method  of  reaching  it. 

The  Situation  of  the  Newspaper  Reader.  "When 
we  think  of  the  magazine  we  think  of  the  library, 
the  evening  lamp,  and  a  fully  yielded  attention. 
When  we  think  of  the  newspaper  we  think  of  the 
breakfast  table,  the  street  car,  the  train,  and  of 
the  evening  lamp  again,  but  less  of  a  sitting-down- 
to-read  attitude.  A  man  may  regard  the  daily 
paper  as  the  more  imperative — he  must  not  miss 
it — but  there  is  always  the  chance  that  he  will 
simply  'look  it  over/  so  that  the  newspaper,  per- 
haps wisely,  usually  feels  that  it  has  to  exert  more 
effort  for  attention,  especially  when  the  matter  is 
not  elemental  news. 

"Attention  is  a  first  principle  in  all  salesman- 
ship, whether  in  ideas  or  in  things.  Salesmanship 
— that  is  to  say,  persuasion — must  begin  with  at- 
tetion,  just  as  it  must  end  with  conviction.  When 
attention  is  less  perfect,  and  where  it  must  be 


82  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

challenged,  there  is  an  obvious  need  for  directness, 
simplicity,  brevity.  If  the  subject  is  not  in  itself 
'popular,'  it  should  be  by  plan  and  presentation 
related,  if  possible,  to  something  in  which  the 
average  person  is  interested.  The  need  for  this 
is  greater  where  the  reader  is  less  likely  to  read 
later,  to  go  back  to  on  a  later  thought,  as  in  a 
book  that  'stays  put',  that  is  there  to  be  taken  up 
again. 

"In  other  words,  the  newspaper  reader  should 
not  be  thought  of  as  a  kind  of  reader,  but  as  a 
reader  in  a  certain  situation — as  you  might  think 
of  a  listener  in  an  open  amphitheatre  as  compared 
with  a  listener  in  a  small  hall  or  parlor.  Some 
of  the  world's  best  literature  appeared  first  in  news- 
papers, yet  this  literature  had  to  justify  itself.  Be- 
ing printed  is  important.  Being  read  is  more  im- 
portant. The  editor  can't  afford  to  print  things 
that  are  not  read — or  not  read  enough.  White 
paper  is  expensive.  Printing  things  that  are  not 
read  is  like  having  speakers  in  an  expensive  hall 
without  an  audience. 

To  Write  Interestingly.  "Many  speakers  and 
many  writers  lose  their  audiences  because  they 
don't  begin  interestingly  and  haven't  an  interest- 
ing manner.  Some  writers  can  send  people  to  sleep 
even  with  a  thriller  in  their  hands.  Others  can 
make  alfalfa  romantic.  It  is  a  matter  of  tempera- 
ment. 

"Huxley  could  write  delightfully  about  science. 
Any  subject  has  a  thrill  in  it  for  the  right  man. 

"One  who  would  communicate  engineering,  and 


GETTING  NEWS  IN  THE  NEWSPAPERS  83 

who  is  not  a  professional  writer,  may  choose  to 
accept  an  old  hand's  advice  not  to  try  to  be  "lit- 
erary." Don't  write  it — say  it.  The  whole  trend 
of  good  writing  is  toward  colloquial  simplicity. 
As  ranting  has  disappeared  from  the  stage,  fine 
phrases  are  disappearing  from  good  writing.  Some 
people  not  only  sound  written,  they  sound  as  if 
they  were  singing.  In  speech  they  will  tell  you 
where  they  live.  In  writing  they  don't  live,  they 
reside.  They  don't  begin,  they  commence.  They 
never  'had  a  talk/  they  'held  a  conversation.'  In 
other  words,  they  'take  their  pen  in  hand'  and  the 
reader  gets  the  ink  on  him.  The  average  person 
doesn't  write  a  personal  letter  as  if  he  were  saying 
something  to  a  friend.  He  writes  a  letter,  and  it 
sounds  like  a  letter.  Some  men  make  even  an 
intimate  after-dinner  speech  the  same  way.  They 
don't  talk;  they  speech. 

Say  It;  Don't  Write  It.  "My  experience  with 
writers  on  science  and  on  practical  things  indicates 
not  so  much  that  they  are  too  complicated  as  to 
their  subjects  as  that  they  are  too  complicated  as 
to  their  English.  Simply  imagine  yourself  saying 
it  to  the  policeman  and  you  will  be  able  to  keep 
your  feet  on  the  earth.  If  I  can  read  a  thing  aloud 
and  it  doesn't  sound  written,  I  know  I  am  on  my 
way.  In  the  average  case  quick  writing  will  sound 
more  written  than  writing  that  has  been  worked 
down  to  clean  terms. 

"It  isn't  a  matter  of  long  words  or  short  words. 
Some  long  words  are  very  common — commoner 
than  they  ought  to  be.  Some  beautiful  short  words 


84  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

are  quite  unfamiliar.  In  speaking  to  the  big  au- 
dience, words  it  will  accept,  used  in  a  way  it  will 
accept,  are  the  great  consideration.  The  right 
word  is  developed  by  a  feeling  for  saying  it.  To 
get  this  feeling  one  must  practice  saying  it.  There 
are  many  mistaken  theories  as  to  what  'the  public' 
will  not  understand.  Most  of  the  disappointments 
come  not  from  failure  to  understand,  but  because 
the  public's  natural  human  interests  have  not  been 
sufficiently  considered  and  successfully  reached." 

Writing  a  Newspaper  Article.  In  order  to  as- 
sist engineers  in  the  preparation  of  publicity  arti- 
cles, the  Iowa  committee  on  publicity  has  pub- 
lished a  manual  of  instructions  from  which  the 
following  discussion  of  writing  for  newspaper  use 
is  taken.  The  discussion  was  prepared  by  J.  E. 
Eichinger,  Bulletin  Editor,  Iowa  Highway  Com- 
mission. 

"Your  publicity  committee  presents  herewith  a 
series  of  topical  outlines  for  newspaper  publicity 
articles  upon  engineering  projects.  These  outlines 
cover  all  the  more  common  types  of  engineering 
enterprises  upon  which  Iowa  engineers  are  en- 
gaged and  upon  which  they  are  from  time  to  time 
asked  to  prepare  articles  for  local  papers.  The 
object  in  preparing  and  presenting  these  outlines 
is  to  make  it  as  easy  as  possible  for  the  engineer 
to  comply  with  these  requests,  and  thus  to  gain 
the  publicity  and  public  credit  to  which  the  engi- 
neer is  entitled  by  reason  of  the  importance  of  his 
profession  and  his  work  to  the  community  life. 

"It  takes  no  special  gift  nor  special  type  of  mind 


GETTING  NEWS  IN  THE  NEWSPAPERS  85 

to  write  a  story  about  a  sewer  system  that  the 
public  will  read.  A  good  newspaper  story  is  made 
good,  chiefly,  because  of  the  order  and  sequence 
in  which  the  important  facts  of  the  story  are  pre- 
sented. What  is  ordinarily  termed  fine  language 
has  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  it.  Fine  language 
is  ordinarily  a  detriment  to  a  good  newspaper 
story.  Of  course,  facts  must  be  presented  in  fairly 
good  English,  and  should  be  grammatically  cor- 
rect, and  the  expression  of  the  thought  must  be 
fairly  clear,  but  anybody  of  ordinary  intelligence 
can  write  good  enough  English  and  express 
thought  clearly  enough  to  make  a  readable  story. 
Steps  in  Building  the  Story.  "Newspaper  writ- 
ers, by  hard  knocks  and  long  experience,  have 
learned  a  few  simple  rules  about  presenting  the 
facts  of  a  story  in  order  to  arrest  and  hold  atten- 
tion long  enough  to  get  the  story  home.  The  first, 
and  by  all  odds  the  most  important,  the  one  that 
seems  almost  absolutely  essential  to  general  suc- 
cess in  preparing  newspaper  publicity,  is  to  throw 
the  most  important  feature  of  the  story  into  what 
is  termed  a  lead  sentence  or  paragraph.  Follow- 
ing this  lead  thought,  and  in  amplification  of  it, 
other  general  facts  are  presented  briefly  and  con- 
cisely, in  order  of  their  general  interest  to  the 
public.  Then,  if  the  article  is  of  some  length,  de- 
tails are  presented  upon  which  the  general  facts 
are  dependent.  When  details  are  finished,  there 
frequently  is  a  summing  up  or  generalization, 
sometimes  somewhat  of  a  repetition  of  the  facts 
in  the  first  paragraph  of  the  story,  to  give  it  a 
sense  of  finished  and  well-rounded  whole. 


TECHNICAL    TREATMENT 
TYPICAL  OUTLINE 

Sewers  and  Sewage  Treatment 

1.  General  Type — Storm.    Sanitary.    Combined.    Treatment 

plant. 

2.  Location — City.    Section  of  outlet  or  treatment  plant. 

3.  Cost — Sewers.   Treatment  plant.     How  paid.    Annual  op- 

erating or  maintenance. 

4.  Need  for  Improvement — Public  health  and  convenience. 

Storm  water  removal.  Contamination  of  water  supply 
or  natural  stream. 

5.  Type    Chosen   and    Why — Sewers.      Sanitary,    storm   or 

combined.  Clay  sewer  pipe.  Concrete  pipe.  Poured 
concrete.  Block.  Segmental  block.  Circular.  Egg- 
shaped.  Rectangular.  Soil.  Construction  or  operating 
conditions  which  determine  type  chosen.  Topography. 
Foundations.  Availability  of  construction  equipment, 
and  materials.  Character  and  velocity  of  flow.  Out- 
let. Sewage  lifts.  Inverted  syphons. 
Treatment  Plant — Grit  chambers.  Syphons.  Type  of 
tank.  Septic.  Two-story  or  activated  sludge.  Screens. 
Type  of  filter  beds.  Intermittent  sand.  Sprinkling 
filters.  Contact  beds.  Sludge  beds.  Sludge  presses. 
Degree  of  purification  required.  Available  fall  at  filter 
beds.  Relative  costs  and  degrees  of  purification. 
Sludge  digestion  chambers.  Settling  basins  beyond 
sprinkling  filters.  Sterilizing  plant. 

6.  Size,  Length,  and  Capacity — Per  capita  daily  flow.    Pres- 

ent and  provided  for.  Growth  in  population  provided 
for.  General  and  in  district.  Sewers — Mains.  Sub- 
mains.  Laterals.  Intercepting  sewers.  Outfalls.  Ca- 
pacity in  terms  of  flow  of  some  well  known  natural 
stream  depth. 

Treatment  Plant—' Capacity  provided  at  present.  Per 
cent  completed.  Dimensions  various  chambers  and 
beds.  Capacity  of  chambers  in  terms  of  hours  flow. 

7.  Materials — Source.      Cost.      Transportation.      Sand    and 

gravel,  washing,  screening  and  remixing. 

8.  Labor — Local  or  imported.     Number  employed.     Wages. 

Why  high  or  low  in  this  particular  job.  Specially 
skilled  mechanics  required. 


9.  Method  of  Construction — Digging  trench.  Hand  work 
or  trenching  machine.  Excavation  at  disposal  plant  site. 
Mixing  and  placing  concrete.  Bracing  and  sheeting  trench. 
Tunneling.  Concrete  cradle  or  other  special  foundation 
features.  Laying  segmental  blocks.  Special  features  in 
form  work  for  concreting.  Making  joints. 

10.  Personnel — Engineer.     Contractor.     Superintendent.     In- 

spector. 

11.  Progress — Authorization    of    improvement.      Completion 

of  plans.  Letting  contracts,  beginning,  rate  of  progress 
and  completion  of  construction  works  or  parts  of  sys- 
tem. 

12.  Financing — Improving   certificates.     Methods   of  assess- 

ing private  property. 

13.  Interesting  or  Unusual  Features  in  Greater  Details. 


POPULAR  TREATMENT 

TYPICAL  OUTLINE 
The  Conquest  of  City  Dirt 

1.  Anecdote  of  London  when  there  were  no  sewers.    Then 

compare  with  local  city  in  early  days. 

2.  How   the    first    sewer   pipe   was    laid — a   wealthy   man's 

privilege  to  be  clean  every  day.  Troubles  in  early 
days. 

3.  Wash   day  and  what  it   means.     How  the   fashion   for 

white  underwear  has  saved  the  lives  of  thousands  by 
eliminating  dirt.  No  dirt  means  lots  of  water,  lots  of 
water  means  sewers  to  carry  off  the  water. 

4.  How  the  present  improved  system  was  begun  in  local 

city. 

Who  were  the  prominent  citizens  that  fought  for  civic 
improvement? 

5.  Plan  of  the  new  system. 

6.  Allowance  for  future  growth. 

7.  Anecdote  of  work  while  sewer  was  under  construction. 

8.  Connecting  sewers  and  disgruntled  people  to  the  system. 

9.  How  the  flow  in  the  sewer  varies. 

10.  When  treated  how  pure  is  sewage? 

11.  What  becomes  of  the  "smell." 

12.  How  the  treatment  plant  operates. 

13.  The  men  who  operate  the  plant. 

14.  Story  of  engineers  and  contractors  who  built  the  system. 

15.  What  the  mayor  and  city  engineer  are  trying  to  do  for 

city. 


88  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

A  Good  Way  to  Construct  the  Story.  "Not  a 
very  bad  plan  for  the  novice  in  the  preparation  of 
newspaper  stories  is  to  consider  that  he  is  given 
a  telegraphic  order  to  tell  the  important  part  of 
his  story  in,  say,  a  fifty-word  telegram,  to  his  em- 
ployer or  some  big  newspaper.  It  will  require 
considerable  thought  and  generalization  for  the 
first  few  stories,  to  get  that  fifty-word  telegram 
to  tell  the  story.  After  a  few  trials,  this  comes 
easily,  and  the  essential  facts  readily  group  them- 
selves to  the  front.  The  next  step  is  to  consider 
that  you  have  aroused  interest  by  your  first  fifty 
words  and  that  you  are  permitted  an  additional 
fifty  words  to  be  tacked  on  to  the  first.  This  will 
permit  the  grouping  of  the  secondary  facts  of  a 
general  nature  in  the  second  paragraph.  Then 
play  that  you  are  given  carte  blanche  order  to  go 
ahead  and  write  the  full  story  in  detail,  without 
limit  of  the  number  of  words  or  space  you  will  fill. 

"The  busy  reader  in  the  city  will  grab  the  paper 
and  read  the  first  fifty  words.  He  gets  the  gen- 
eral idea  of  your  story  and  the  gist  of  what  you 
have  to  tell  him.  He  may  stop  right  there.  If  he 
is  interested,  he  reads  another  paragraph  and  gets 
more  information  of  secondary  importance.  Then, 
if  still  interested,  without  any  break  in  the  logical 
sequence  of  the  thought,  he  can  delve  into  the 
details  and  get  your  entire  story.  This  is  just  what 
happens  in  the  newspaper  man's  experience  many 
times  every  day.  It  takes  no  special  gift  of  lan- 
guage to  tell  the  story,  only  the  knowledge  and 
training  as  to  the  manner  and  sequence  of  present- 


GETTING  NEWS  IN  THE  NEWSPAPERS  89 

ing  the  facts,  granting  that  his  language  be  good 
and  the  thought  clear. 

"Writing  an  engineering  project  news  story  is 
no  different  from  any  -other  news  story.  When 
the  editor  has  time  to  sit  down  and  ask  questions, 
the  engineer  has  no  difficulty  in  giving  his  informa- 
tion, probably  in  better  language  and  thought,  just 
as  clear  as  the  editor  could  give. 

"The  typical  outlines  on  page  86  are  suggested 
for  use  as  an  outline  for  a  story,  or  to  suggest  an 
outline  which  one  can  prepare  for  himself.  A 
sentence  or  two,  as  the  occasion  may  require,  about 
each  topic  of  the  outline  will  insure  a  fairly  com- 
plete and  well-arranged  newspaper  article,  giving 
all  the  information  ordinarily  of  interest  to  the 
general  public  about  such  an  enterprise. 

"The  order  can  be  varied  or  any  portion  omitted 
or  enlarged  at  will  to  suit  the  project  or  the  plea- 
sure of  the  writer.  Use  short  sentences,  cut  the 
adjectives  to  the  limit,  use  one  and  two-syllable 
words  and  get  the  important  part  of  the  story  to 
the  front,  so  that  if  the  editor  chops  your  copy 
after  the  first  three  or  four  paragraphs,  you  will  get 
by  with  your  story  in  spite  of  his  scissors." 

How  to  Write  for  Magazines.  The  Sunday 
edition  of  most  modern  newspapers  is  in  reality  a 
magazine  and  the  following  hints  that  apply  to 
magazines  also  apply  to  Sunday  newspapers. 

Magazine  publicity  is  ordinarily  more  difficult 
than  newspaper  publicity.  There  are  two  reasons 
for  this:  first,  because  the  material  suitable  for 


90  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

publication  in  magazines  is  more  restricted  than  in 
newspapers  of  general  circulation,  and  second,  be- 
cause the  literary  standard  of  magazines  is  much 
higher  than  it  is  possible  to  maintain  in  newspa- 
per publication,  and  therefore  a  greater  ability  on 
the  part  of  the  writer  is  required. 

The  subject  matter  in  magazines  follows  the 
•trend  of  current  events.  Current  events  are  re- 
flected most  plainly  in  our  daily  newspapers.  If 
our  daily  newspapers  contain  engineering  pub- 
licity it  follows  that  our  magazines  will  also  con- 
tain material  concerning  engineers  and  engineer- 
ing. 

Making  Interesting  Reading  of  Engineer  Sub- 
jects. Articles  which  are  to  be  successful  in  re- 
ceiving the  approval  of  a  popular  magazine  editor 
must  be  arranged  in  an  attractive  and  interesting 
manner — in  other  words,  they  must  be  well  writ- 
ten. Once  the  article  is  in  good  form,  however, 
the  result  is  not  merely  an  acceptance  and  pub- 
lication, but  the  article  attracts  thousands  of  read- 
ers whose  interest  in  the  article  itself  makes  them 
entirely  overlook  any  possible  objection  they  may 
have  to  the  publicity  feature  of  -the  article. 

Take  one  illustration,  as  a  typical  example. 
Creative  Chemistry,  a  book  by  Edwin  E.  Slosson, 
can  teach  many  lessons  about  making  interesting 
reading  of  engineering  subjects.  It  originated  in  a 
series  of  articles  prepared  for  The  Independent  in 
1917-18,  "for  the  purpose  of  interesting  the  general 
reader  in  the  recent  achievements  of  industrial 
chemistry."  The  original  articles,  and  the  book 


LACKAWANNA 

SAFETY  NEWS  SERVICE 


HAYS  ACCEPTS  $150,000  MOVIE  DIRECTORSHIP 

Official  announcement  has  been  made  of  the  forthcoming  resignation  of  Postmaster  General  Will  H,  Hays 
from  Harding's  cabinet  to  accept  a  $150,000  salary  as  head  of  the  American  motion  picture  production 
industry.  Mr.  Hays  is  seen  being  "shot"  after  the  announcement. 

Railroading  is  normally  a  safe  occupation 
if  men  will  only  let  their  minds  work  nor- 
mally while  they  are  on  duty.  Heaven 
protect  the  man  who  violates  the  rules. 


POPULARIZING  SAFETY  FIRST 

These  posters  are  issued  and  distributed  weekly  and  contain, 
in  addition  to  some  pertinent  messages  on  safety,  a  reproduction 
of  some  news  event.  They  are  patterned  after  the  news-service 
picture-placards  which  are  now  seen  regularly  in  many  store 
windows  and  which  feature  the  latest  news  events  pictorially. 
The  safety  message  is  printed  in  large  type  and  in  colors.  It  is 
short  and  to  the  point,  as  illustrated  by  that  here  shown.  In  this 
poster,  the  "news"  is  in  black,  and  the  safety  message  in  bright 
green.  These  placards  measure  about  14  by  18  inches.  Railway 
Age,  March  n,  1922. 


THE  Old  North  Bridge  in  Mas- 
sachusetts near  which  some  of  the 
bloodiest  fighting  of  the  Battle  of 
Concord  took  place  is  an  example  of 
local  history  and  engineering  struc- 
tures 


A  FEAT  of  engineering  that  has 
popular  appeal  because  of  the 
unusual  curves  of  the  new  highway 
which  are  easy  of  comprehension  to 
the  average  reader.  This  road  over 
the  Snoqualmie  Pass  also  connects 
Eastern  and  Western  Washington. 


GETTING  NEWS  IN  THE  NEWSPAPERS  93 

itself,  have  been  read  by  thousands  of  people  who 
were  interested  in  the  author's  presentation  of 
otherwise  "dry"  chemical  facts,  and  without  ques- 
tion there  has  been  a  tremendous  amount  of 
valuable  publicity  for  the  chemical  profession  as 
a  result.  The  same  can  be  done  with  engineering 
subjects. 

Take  as  example  one  passage  in  the  first  chap- 
ter of  the  book.  The  author  is  speaking  of  nitro- 
gen, in  its  fixed  and  free  forms.  "The  air  is 
four-fifths  free  nitrogen,  and  if  we  could  absorb  it 
in  our  lungs  as  we  do  the  oxygen  of  the  other  fifth, 
a  few  minutes'  breathing  would  give  us  a  full  meal. 
But  we  let  this  free  nitrogen  all  out  again  through 
our  noses,  and  then  go  and  pay  35  cents  a  pound 
for  steak  and  60  cents  a  dozen  for  eggs  in  order 
to  get  enough  combined  nitrogen  to  live  on."  We 
all  learned  the  essential  facts  of  these  passages 
from  our  text  books,  but  in  different  manner! 

Prepare  "dry"  engineering  accomplishments  in 
similar  form,  and  you  will  not  lack  a  medium  for 
spreading  these  accomplishments  broadcast  for 
popular  consumption.  Make  easy  reading  out  of 
your  engineering  subjects;  but  don't  expect  wide 
publicity  from  engineering  reports — the  text  book 
type  which  never  get  attention  beyond  the  indi- 
viduals vitally  concerned. 


ISTATE  OFFERS 
1  LOW  SALARIES 

Engineers  Not  Attracted  by 
Highway  Jobs. 

Thirty-five  Have  Been  Taking  Night 

Course  in  Preparation,  but  Are 

Not  Tempted 

i  Fd lowing  tlie  discovery  that  engi- 
neers in  charge  of  construction  would 
Jje  paid  only  from  $J,500  to  $2,100  per 
year,  there  was  a  perceptible  coldne«: 
<qa  the  part  of  Chattanooga  engineers 
iaj.it  night  tou"ard  Keeking  employment 
Under  the  state  highway  commission  in 
buiMing  tha  $8,000,000  worth  of  road-i 
which  are  to  be  constructed  thU  year. 

The  plans  of  the  highway  commission 
were  outlined  by  Prof.  Dougherty,  prin- 
cipal of  the  civil  engineering  depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Tennessee, 
before  the  semi-monthly  meeting  of  the 
Chattanooga  chapter  of  the  American 
Association  of  Engineers  Prof.  Dough- 
erty stated  federal  requirements  would 
.be 'fallowed,  which  means  that  a  super 
Vising  engineer  must  have  bad  at  leurt 
.two  years',  of  actual  experience  in  road 
.construction  and  several  years'  addi- 
tional experieace  iu  other  kinds  of  engi- 
neering 

With  the  idea  of  taking  advantage  of 
the  year  jobs  in  supervising  the  big  road 
program,  thirty-five  engineers  have  been 
taking  special  instruction  in  .rond  en- 
gineering under  Prof.  H.  li.  'Smith  in 
the  night  school,  which  is  being  con- 
ducted by  city  authorities.  Nearly  all 
of  these  men  anticipated  taking  the  posi- 
tions, but  the  course  as  outlined  ast 
jrfgut  makes  it  doubtful 


STATE  PAYS  ENGINEERS 
WHAT  THEY  ARE  WORTH 

Commissioner  Moore  Talks  to 
Engineer   Society — Resolu- 
tions on  Dietz's  Death. 

In  speaking  of  the  discussion  con* 
cerning  low  salaries  paid  highway  en. 
pincers  by  the  state  that  came  up  at 
the  meeting  of  the  local  engineers 
Wednesday  night  Commissioner  W.  P. 
Moore  of  the  state  hlghwap  department, 
said  this  morning  that  the  engineers 
are  being  paid  from  $150  and  upward  a 
rtionth.  Including  expenses.  He  dt  • 
dared  that  the  expense*  amount  to 
from  $50  to  $75  a  month. 

When  asked  what  the  maximum  for 
the  salaries  Is  Mr.  Moore  said  that 
there  Is  no  maximum,  but  that  the  en- 
glneera  are  paid  according  to  their 
worth.  He  also  pointed  out  that  every 
man  who  has  stood  the  examinations 
is  at  work  and  that  this  would  not  be 
so  If  it  were  not  that  the  proper  salary 
was  being  received  by  those  qualified 
to  take  these  state  positions.  Mr. 
Moore  is  in  the  city  to  attend  the  hl« 
automobile  club  meeting 

Prof.  Dougherty,  civil  engine^ing  In- 
structor of  the  University  of  Tennessee. 
spoke  to  the  engineers  at  their  Wednes-, 
day  night  meeting.  After  hearing 
Prof.  Dougherty's  talk  It  was  the  opin- 
ion of  a  number  of  the  engineers  that 
few  of  the  experienced  ones  will  leave 
their  present  employment  to  accept  the 
low  salaries  offered  by.  the  state,  as 
explained  by  Prof.  Dougherty.  ThU 
decision  was  reached^  by  them,  taking 
Into  consideration  that  they  ml*bt  pats 
^04  -required  *xamJS»tlon«.  tc 
•.  The  -civil  engineering  Instructor  Mid 
;tfiat  salaries  for  the  state  highway  en- 
gtoeerlng  work  are  to  be  from  $1,500 
to  $2,100  per  year.  The  American  As- 
sociation of  Engineers  recommended  a 
scale  of  salaries  for  the  same  position* 
of  from  $2.400  to  $4,000  per  year. 

The  engineers  pointed  out  that  the 
highest  position,  pr  cftlef  engineer's 
salary  Is  .only  $4,000  a  year.  This,  they 
state,  Is  very  low  for  a  man  who  has 
the  responsibility  of  spending  $8.000.- 
«00  for  road  construction.  The  Albert- 
can  Association  of  Engineers  recom- 
mends $15,000.  at  least,  for  such  a  re- 
sponsible position. 


Opposite  treatment  of  the  same  news. 

The  public  is  made  up  of  a  large  number  of  groups  varying  in 
size,  each  of  which  is  interested  from  a  different  standpoint,  hence 
party  newspapers,  business  and  trade  papers,  literary  magazines  and 
other  public  information  mediums  exist. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  PUBLICITY  MAN,  AND  WHAT  HE 
NEEDS  TO  KNOW 

Picking  the  Publicity  Man.  Since  publicity 
must  be  sincere,  honest,  fair  and  careful,  not  given 
to  over-statement  or  exaggeration,  it  follows  that 
the  publicity  man,  too,  must  be  marked  by  these 
same  attributes. 

If  publicity  is  the  art  of  bringing  matters  of  pub- 
lic import  to  the  people  for  their  consideration,  it 
follows  that  the  first  thing  necessary  is  to  gather 
together  the  information  that  is  to  be  given  out. 

The  Association  of  Railway  Executives  prob- 
ably has  no  more  important  department  than  the 
Bureau  of  Railway  Economics  at  Washington,  an 
organization  which  has  gathered,  and  is  constantly 
taking  in  more  information  of  every  conceivable 
sort  about  the  railroads  of  this  and  other  countries 
of  the  world  than  probably  could  be  found  in  any 
other  one  place.  From  this  well-spring  flows  a 
current  of  dependable  facts. 

With  the  proper  sort  of  publicity  organization 
started,  the  questions  to  ask  are,  what  are  the  situ- 
ations affecting  the  profession  which  may  be  im- 
proved through  publicity  work;  and,  second,  have 
the  men  who  are  doing  publicity  work  in  local 
chapters  a  co-ordinated  plan  of  action  under  cen- 
tralized direction? 

95 


96  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

It  is  difficult  to  appreciate  the  variety  of  things 
one  has  to  know  in  order  to  accomplish  successful 
public  relations  work,  but  a  study  of  the  check  list 
of  activities  on  page  42  will  give  some  idea  of  the 
scope  of  the  work.  It  is  almost  impossible  for  one 
man  to  have  a  comprehensive  knowledge  of  all  the 
different  work  that  has  to  be  done.  A  wide  experi- 
ence in  many  lines  of  work  and  a  broad  sympathy 
probably  constitute  the  best  training  for  this  work. 
A  public  relations  man  must  have,  in  addition, 
keen  judgment,  a  pleasing  personality,  a  nose  for 
news,  the  ability  to  write,  and  he  must  know  what 
people  want,  and  what  they  are  interested  in.  It 
is  work  for  a  man  of  buoyant,  well-poised  tempera- 
ment and  a  thorough  education.  He  must  have  the 
poise  of  an  editor,  the  vision  of  a  promoter,  the 
aggressiveness  of  an  advertising  man,  the  accu- 
racy of  a  scientist  engaged  in  research  work,  the 
suavity  of  a  diplomat,  and  he  must  be  thoroughly 
imbued  with  the  idea  of  developing  the  interests 
of  other  people  rather  than  his  own.  He  must  be 
content  to  be  a  Boswell  to  many  Johnsons. 

The  Need  for  Voluntary  Effort.  In  approach- 
ing this  subject  of  public  information  the  first  step 
is  to  select  someone  whose  business  it  is  to  know 
what  the  public  will  read  and  what  the  public 
won't  read.  This  means  a  great  deal  of  help  from 
local  engineers — voluntary  help  from  men  who 
can  give  each  a  small  amount  of  time  to  the  work. 
While  voluntary  effort  must  not  be  too  much  de- 
pended upon,  its  value  is  beyond  computation. 
There  is  something  that  springs  from  honest  and 


THE  PUBLICITY  MAN  97 

earnest  volunteer  effort  that  no  amount  of  money 
will  ever  buy. 

Some  Special  Jobs  for  the  Public  Information 
Man.  With  the  local  publicity  man  selected  and 
on  the  job,  there  are  several  things  this  man  can 
do  in  addition  to  the  actual  preparation  of  news 
articles  and  items.  One  is  to  develop  the  local  in- 
terest of  engineers  in  the  local  problems;  to  em- 
phasize that  the  engineer  cannot  be  made  publicly 
known  nationally  until  he  makes  himself  known 
publicly  in  a  local  way. 

When  an  engineering  work  is  finally  dedicated, 
it  too  often  happens  that  the  higher  city  officials 
and  prominent  citizens  do  the  talking,  and  the  en- 
gineer stays  in  the  background.  One  thing  the 
engineer  needs  is  contact  with  other  men — with 
men  in  business  and  in  other  professions.  When 
an  engineer  ceases  practicing  engineering  as  a 
trade,  and  begins  to  practice  it  as  a  profession,  he 
is  thrown  in  with  groups  of  men  who  are  not  en- 
gineers, including  lawyers,  bankers,  and  business 
men.  Men  who  have  risen  high  in  the  engineering 
profession  are  nearly  all  men  who  have  acquired  a 
broad  general  education  outside  of  engineering. 
Tell  the  story  of  the  engineers  who  have  achieved. 

The  question  of  publicity  in  the  smaller  towns 
is  one  which  needs  careful  attention.  In  every  state 
there  are  many  engineers  who  have  to  get  their 
support  in  the  smaller  towns  and  communities,  and 
they  need  help  and  education  along  publicity  lines. 
To  accomplish  consistent  and  helpful  results,  some- 
one should  be  paid  to  do  the  publicity  work.  There 


98  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

are  not  many  who  have  time  to  do  this  work.  If 
someone  is  on  the  job  all  the  time  sustained  pub- 
licity methods  can  be  used. 

If  there  is  only  volunteered  effort,  about  the  best 
way  to  work  it  is  through  intensive  publicity  cam- 
paigns at  times  concerning  particular  matters.  It 
is  pretty  hard  to  get  a  man  who,  in  addition  to  his 
regular  work,  will  keep  things  going  smoothly 
from  day  to  day.  But  quite  often  one  will  wake 
up  and  spend  a  few  weeks  or  a  month  putting 
across  a  special  campaign  of  publicity. 

Engineers  should  seek  civic  positions,  where 
their  particular  work  would  not  have  any  special, 
distinct  engineering  problem  to  solve,  or  engineer- 
ing bearing,  but  would  show  that  the  engineer  can 
be  a  perfectly  good  citizen  in  all  branches  of  civic 
organization.  The  publicity  man  can  show  how 
these  engineers  are  qualified  for  civic  work. 

The  publicity  man  can  often  do  much  to  coun- 
teract the  incorrect  impression  which  often  prevails 
that  ordinarily  in  seeking  publicity  you  have  to  do 
something  a  little  different,  perhaps  underhanded, 
in  order  to  get  it  over.  There  is  nothing  in  that. 
If  you  do  something  and  know  how  to  tell  about 
it,  it  will  go.  Talk  about  the  constructive  things 
that  are  being  done  in  a  way  that  the  public  will 
understand. 

Don't  Be  Too  Modest.  Often  engineers  are 
over-modest  in  sending  in  items  about  themselves. 
The  publicity  man  can  do  much  to  overcome  that 
tendency.  Editors  of  technical  journals  have  to 
solicit  items  constantly  about  persons,  whereas,  as 


THE  PUBLICITY  MAN  99 

a  matter  of  fact,  they  ought  to  come  freely  from 
the  individuals.  The  publicity  man  can  stimulate 
these  tremendously,  by  urging  individuals  to  keep 
up  a  flow  of  that  sort  of  items.  The  development 
of  the  personals  in  the  technical  and  other  jour- 
nals is  a  simple  way  to  get  publicity  along  these 
lines. 

Contacts  with  Civic  Organizations.  There  are 
innumerable  civic,  trade,  and  social  organizations 
such  as  chambers  of  commerce,  Rotary  and  Kiwa- 
nis  Clubs,  women's  clubs,  real  estate  boards,  boy 
scouts,  and  so  on.  These  organizations  can  be  in- 
valuable in  providing  appointments  for  speakers 
on  engineering  subjects  and  speakers  before  en- 
gineers on  business  subjects,  and  in  many  other 
ways. 

It  will  pay  to  remember  that  women  are  becom- 
ing very  much  interested  in  the  affairs  of  the  cities, 
the  states,  and  the  country.  Before  long  women 
will  cast  the  deciding  vote  in  many  movements.  A 
number  of  cases  have  occurred  where  women  have 
supported  engineers  for  public  positions.  They 
will  do  it  anywhere  when  the  problem  is  put  up  to 
them  in  the  right  way.  They  are  seeking  the  truth, 
and  they  will  vote  for  the  best  candidate  they  can 
get. 

Don't  Clog  the  Channels.  One  warning  all  pub- 
licity men  should  keep  in  mind — it  is  possible  to 
overdo  their  work  and  lose  the  confidence  of  local 
newspaper  editors.  Much  attempted  publicity  has 
been  sent  out  broadcast,  item  after  item,  to  me- 
diums to  which  such  broad  general  material  is 
worthless. 


100 


PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 


There  is  more  publicity  sent  out  that  is  utterly 
worthless  than  the  average  man  has  any  concep- 
tion of.  It  is  fatal  to  the  business  that  attempts  it. 
It  clogs  the  journals  which  you  must  eventually 


WASTE  IN  CITY  BUILDING  \ 


Owing  to  haphazard  city  growth 
hundreds  of  perfectly  good  buildings 
go  to  The  dump  each  year . 


A  typical  campaign  cartoon  used  in  promoting  city  zoning  in 
Atlanta,  Georgia. 

use,  and  organization  after  organization,  as  well  as 
private  concerns,  have  defeated  their  purpose  by 
sending  out  small,  foolish,  continual  streams  of 
dead  stuff  that  piled  up  and  up  until  finally,  when 
the  big  story  broke,  there  was  no  opportunity  to 


THE  PUBLICITY 

get  it  through.  They  had  cried,  "Wolf,  Wolf,"  and 
there  was  no  wolf,  and  when  the  wolf  came,  no 
editor  could  be  convinced. 

Beware  of  that  clogging  process.  Keep  in  mind 
the  idea  that  you  must  go  gently  and  jump  at  every 
apparent  opportunity  to  use  your  publicity  chances, 
but  send  out  the  live  stuff  so  that  the  local  editors 
will  know  that  they  are  getting  stuff  that  is  de- 
pendable and  live,  and  when  the  big  thing  breaks, 
all  the  space  you  want  is  yours.  Pave  the  way  for 
•the  big  story,  by  preparing  little,  live  stories  for 
that  big  thing  that  is  going  to  come  through. 

This  suggestion  has  been  made  by  one  Associa- 
tion chapter,  where  it  has  worked  well:  "Put  in 
your  city  newspapers,  at  as  frequent  intervals  as 
you  can,  a  paid  advertisement  at  the  regular  rates. 
It  may  be  only  a  notice  of  a  meeting,  three  or  four 
inches  of  single-column  announcement.  Do  it  regu- 
larly, and  you  will  find  that  it  is  only  human  na- 
ture that  your  news  items  will  sometimes  find  a 
warmer  reception  when  you  take  them  to  the  news- 
paper." 

Newspaper  Syndicates.  It  is  well  always  to 
keep  in  mind  that  a  newspaper  syndicate  is  about 
the  easiest  way  to  reach  a  great  many  people.  Of 
course  syndicate  material  has  to  have  a  wide  ap- 
peal. If  you  understand  just  what  people  want 
you  frequently  can  place  stories  with  the  newspa- 
per syndicates.  They  are  glad  to  get  them,  if  the 
stories  have  the  proper  elements. 

Hints  on  Organization.  There  are  many  details 
to  be  learned  before  a  man  can  be  reasonably  sure 


n»  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

of  himself  in  public  relations  work.  Some  of  these 
details  are  briefly  discussed  in  the  following  para- 
graphs. The  check  list  of  public  information  me- 
diums on  page  42  indicates  the  scope  of  knowledge 
necessary.  I  , 

Parades.  A  parade  is  an  effective  form  of  dem- 
onstration, because  it  reaches  people  who  would 
not  come  to  a  meeting.  In  engineering  publicity 
work  it  is  usual  that  an  organization  will  have  a 
float  in  a  parade,  rather  than  organize  a  parade  as 
a  strictly  technical  activity. 

Many  ideas  have  been  successfully  used  in  pre- 
paring floats  by  various  chapters  of  the  American 
Association  of  Engineers.  A  simple  form  of  dem- 
onstration in  a  parade  is  merely  to  have  a  body  of 
men  marching.  These  men  may  carry  streamers 
or  signs.  Sometimes  a  distinguishing  mark  is 
adopted  like  the  "silk  hat  of  Tammany"  and  the 
"umbrella."  Occasionally  it  is  desirable  to  use  uni- 
forms. Uniforms  are  effectively  used  by  a  social 
organization  and  secret  organizations. 

Following  is  a  typical  parade  announcement: 

Chief  of  Police will  be  marshal  of  the  parade 

and  will  be  followed  by  the  most  remarkable  line  of 
floats,  horseback  riders,  automobiles,  groups  of  sing- 
ers and  bands  that  has  ever  marched  through  the 
streets  of  the  city.  Every  business  house  and  fra- 
ternal organization  has  been  invited  to  cooperate. 
The  parade  will  begin  at  12  o'clock  noon,  starting 
at  1 2th  Street.  It  will  observe  the  following  line  of 
march:  North  on  Michigan  to  Jackson  Boulevard, 
west  on  Jackson  to  LaSalle  Street  (complete 


THE  PUBLICITY  MAN  103 

line  of  march)   and  marches  to  State   Street, 

where  it  disbands. 

At  grandstand  opposite  the  Hotel  will  be  a 

chorus  of  one  thousand,  forming  an  American  flag, 
and  three  hundred  singers,  arranged  to  represent  the 
United  States  Shield. 

Convention  Exhibits.  Conventions  are  the  oc- 
casions for  the  preparation  of  exhibits,  for  at  that 
time  prominent  men,  interested  in  some  particular 
line  of  work,  are  gathered  together  and  they  can 
be  reached  at  one  time.  Only  a  few  of  the  basic 
ideas  used  at  conventions  will  be  given  here. 

As  a  rule,  convention  exhibits  should  have  unity. 
The  exhibit  should  be  planned  to  have  anyone 
who  attends  it  leave  with  some  one  definite  idea. 
A  mere  display  of  many  different  things  of  interest 
or  curiosities  will  not  produce  the  results  that 
skillful  methods  of  handling  an  exhibit  will  produce. 
It  is  a  good  idea  to  have  something  in  the  exhibit 
that  moves.  This  will  attract  attention.  Avoid 
small  pictures.  Use  plenty  of  large  label  cards, 
with  large  type  for  lettering.  Avoid  lengthy  no- 
tices. Avoid  having  an  overcrowded  exhibit. 

Displays  in  merchants*  stores,  windows,  and  on 
sidewalks  are  useful  means  of  presenting  an  idea. 
Engineers'  Week  in  Missoula,  Montana,  which  is 
described  in  detail  in  Chapter  VI  gives  an  idea  as 
to  the  varied  use  of  displays.  Exhibits  in  public 
schools,  posters  and  other  work  by  school  children, 
including  contests,  were  used  very  effectively  in  the 
Engineers'  Week  contest.  This  is  a  most  effective 
method  of  getting  a  subject  talked  about  and  can 


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THE  PUBLICITY  MAN 


105 


be  used  in  engineering  publicity  work  to  a  much 
greater  extent  than  it  has  been  used  in  the  past. 

Advertisements  on  theatre  programs  and  score 
cards  can  be  used  at  times  but  these  mediums  are 
generally  expensive. 

Motion  Pictures.     There  are  two  types  of  mo- 


Cartoon  poster  advertising  a  convention  that  was   sent  to 
chapters  as  a  photostat,   14  by  21  inches  in  size. 

tion  pictures  that  can  be  used  for  publicity  work. 
The  first  consists  of  slides  and  short  news  films 
for  use  in  motion  picture  theatres,  and  the  second 
of  general  interest  motion  pictures  for  use  in 
schools  and  theatres. 

Motion  pictures  are  handled  on  what  are  known 
as  circuits.  For  example,  the  Ford  Weekly  is 
handled  through  various  district  offices  and  re- 
leases are  obtained  from  these  offices.  The  Ford 


io6          PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

Weekly  is  perhaps  the  largest  engineering  educa- 
tional motion  picture  syndicate  in  the  country  and 
their  pictures  can  be  used  to  advantage. 

An  Educational  Motion  Picture  Syndicate.  A 
unique  organization  for  educational  work,  which  is 
endowed  and  supported  by  contributing  life  mem- 
bers, is  the  Bureau  of  Commercial  Economics, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

A  requirement  of  this  Bureau  is  that  its  pictures 
must  be  invariably  displayed  to  audiences  admitted 
free.  The  service  of  the  Bureau  is  available  to  edu- 
cational institutions,  civic  organizations,  different 
trade  conventions,  and  welfare  organizations,  and 
it  is  also  provided  with  motor  truck  equipment  for 
projectors  operated  from  auto  trucks,  in  parks, 
playgrounds,  rural  communities,  and  other  public 
centers. 

The  scope  of  the  Bureau  is  international  both  in 
the  source  and  display  of  its  films. 

Stipulation  for  Film  Service.  Any  organization 
which  desires  to  use  the  films  of  the  Bureau  may 
have  the  privilege  under  the  following  stipulations : 

1.  Payment  of  transportation  charges  from  and  to  the 

distributing  center. 

2.  The  films  shall  be  used  on  standard  motion  picture 

projectors,  handled  by  competent  operators. 

3.  A   report  of  films  used  and  attendance  shall  be 

mailed  after  the  performance  to  the  distributing 
center. 

4.  Films  shall  be  returned  immediately  after  use. 

5.  The  exhibitor  accepts   full   responsibility  for  the 

films  while  in  his  possession. 


THE  PUBLICITY  MAN  107 

No  fee  whatsoever  is  charged  or  accepted  for 
the  use  of  the  films  of  the  Bureau. 

No  admission  fees  to  the  public  are  permitted  to 
be  charged,  nor  are  collections,  during  or  after  the 
exhibition,  permissible. 

If  films  from  other  sources,  such  as  advertising 
films,  films  of  advertising  associations,  or  films 
which  have  been  rejected  by  the  Bureau,  except 
literary  and  similar  films  rented  from  the  commer- 
cial exchanges,  are  shown  in  conjunction  with  the 
films  of  the  Bureau,  the  Bureau  reserves  the  right 
to  discontinue  the  service. 

Owing  to  the  great  expense  in  the  production 
of  film,  the  Bureau  must  be  informed  as  to  the  pro- 
jection apparatus  employed,  as  it  is  obviously 
necessary  to  protect  film  equipment  against  injury. 

Producing  Motion  Pictures.  An  outline  or 
scenario  is  first  prepared.  This  gives  the  story  and 
the  ideas  that  you  wish  to  convey.  The  outline  is, 
of  course,  subject  to  modification  in  making. 
Changes  are  minimized,  however,  by  working  up 
the  action  before  going  into  the  field,  so  that  the 
picture  may  be  taken  according  to  a  well-defined 
plan. 

The  next  step  is  to  obtain  information  as  to  the 
best  places  to  procure  the  pictures  that  fit  into  the 
outline  and  the  time  at  which  they  can  best  be 
taken.  These  scenes  are  then  located  and  the  cam- 
era gets  on  the  job,  arranging  the  scenes.  After 
a  study  of  conditions  existing  on  the  ground  has 
been  made,  the  best  method  of  procedure  is  de- 
cided upon.  The  pictures  are  then  taken  and  the 


io8  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

photographer  returns  to  his  studio.  The  film  is 
developed,  the  titles  are  prepared,  and  the  prints 
for  exhibition  are  made.  After  the  exhibition  of 
these  prints,  unnecessary  portions  of  the  film  are 
cut  out  and  the  picture  is  completed  for  service  as 
a  fantom  assistant.  The  negative  of  the  film  cor- 
responds to  the  negative  of  an  ordinary  picture  and 
is  stored  away.  As  many  prints  as  desired  can  be 
made  from  this  negative. 

Motion  picture  films  are  always  wound  on  stand- 
ard reels,  which  have  a  capacity  of  approximately 
one  thousand  feet  of  film.  This  film  passes  through 
the  camera  at  a  speed  of  about  one  foot  per  second, 
and  there  are  sixteen  pictures,  three-quarters  by 
one  inch  each,  on  a  foot  of  film.  In  exhibiting  the 
pictures  on  the  screen  the  film  passes  through  the 
projecting  machine  at  the  same  speed — one  foot 
per  second.  The  time  required  to  exhibit  a  reel  is, 
therefore,  about  sixteen  and  one-half  minutes. 
Titles  are  made  in  the  laboratory  by  photograph- 
ing printed  cards.  The  length  of  film  required  for 
each  title  depends,  of  course,  on  the  number  of 
words  in  the  title.  A  common  rule  with  motion- 
picture  producers  is  to  allow  one-half  foot  of  film 
for  each  word  in  long  titles  and  three-quarters  foot 
of  film  for  titles  of  not  more  than  three  words. 

Suggestions  on  Exhibiting  Motion  Pictures. 
Portable  projectors  about  the  size  of  an  ordinary 
suitcase,  and  very  simple  to  operate,  may  be  used 
to  exhibit  the  films.  The  points  to  remember  in 
connection  with  the  use  of  the  projector  are : 

Always  use  a  screen  unless  a  white  or  nearly 
white  wall  is  available. 


THE  PUBLICITY  MAN  109 

For  a  long  throw  use  a  long  focus  lens  to  pro- 
cure a  picture  not  over  nine  feet  by  twelve  feet  in 
size. 

Show  pictures  at  a  speed  of  one  foot  per  second. 
This  is  approximately  one  complete  revolution  of 
the  hand-crank  per  second. 

Arrange  the  picture  so  that  parts  of  two  scenes 
do  not  appear  at  once  on  the  screen.  Do  this 
quickly.  Slowness  provokes  comment  from  the 
audience.  Learn  from  a  private  exhibition  of  the 
reels  what  they  show  before  attempting  to  exhibit 
them  in  public. 

Do  not  try  to  explain  things  the  pictures  show 
clearly.  The  pictures  are  more  convincing  than 
words.  Study  the  effective  use  of  films  and  the 
proper  time  to  show  them.  Much  depends  upon 
the  smoothness  with  which  they  are  exhibited. 

These  are  the  main  points.  The  rest  depends 
upon  the  punch  that  is  in  the  picture  and  the  care 
with  which  it  has  been  taken. 

Operating  a  Speakers'  Bureau.  In  arranging  to 
get  speakers  to  address  meetings  it  is  always  wise 
to  get  the  best  talent  possible,  particularly  for  the 
main  speaker.  If  the  main  speaker  is  technically 
inclined,  the  other  speakers  should  be  non-tech- 
nical, to  balance  the  program.  Talent  may  be  ob- 
tained from  lyceum  bureaus  and  from  the  heads 
of  engineering  organizations,  or  selected  from 
among  prominent  members  of  the  chapter.  Ar- 
range for  a  suitable  short  introduction  of  the  prin- 
cipal speaker,  and  try  to  make  him  comfortable  in 
every  way  possible.  Ask  the  speaker  to  have  sev- 


no          PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

eral  copies  of  a  short  abstract  of  his  remarks  pre- 
pared prior  to  the  delivery  of  the  address,  or  get 
an  advance  copy  of  the  talk  so  that  the  publicity 
committee  will  have  this  material  available  for 
the  press. 

Where  there  is  much  expense  attached  to  ob- 
taining speakers  it  is  well  to  prepare  a  program 
and  advertise  with  posters  placed  in  store  win- 
dows and  by  paid  space  in  the  newspapers.  Tick- 
ets may  be  sold  and  the  cost  of  the  speaker  de- 
frayed in  this  way.  Lyceum  bureaus  have  special 
men  who  make  it  a  business  to  arrange  for  the 
financing  of  their  speakers.  These  men  can  give 
valuable  assistance  in  outlining  the  methods  to  be 
followed. 

Specialized  subjects  for  speakers  should  be 
avoided  so  that  the  greatest  possible  attendance 
may  be  assured.  Very  technical  subjects  are  also 
to  be  avoided,  unless  they  are  handled  in  a  popular 
way. 

It  is  frequently  possible  to  co-operate  with  local 
civic  organizations  in  obtaining  high-grade  speak- 
ers. A  course  of  talks  may  be  given  under  the 
auspices  of  the  combined  business  organizations 
in  the  small  towns  that  will  be  very  valuable  both 
to  the  engineering  profession  and  to  the  general 
public.  The  engineering  publicity  committee  should 
always  plan  to  handle  the  reports  of  the  speakers 
independently  and  to  see  that  they  are  circulated 
thoroughly  among  the  newspapers  and  sometimes 
to  the  magazines. 

Furnishing  Speakers  to  the  Public.    The  best 


THE  PUBLICITY  MAN  HI 

speakers  in  the  chapter  should  be  organized  in 
a  speakers'  bureau  to  furnish  able  men  on  different 
occasions  to  talk  before  various  civic  organiza- 
tions, in  the  public  schools,  at  boy  scout  meetings, 
and  in  other  places  where  their  services  are  needed 
and  asked  for.  Let  the  civic  organizations  know 
that  the  services  of  these  men  are  available  and 
they  will  have  plenty  of  opportunities  to  speak. 
The  publicity  committee  should  be  sure  that  these 
men  have  carefully  prepared  addresses  that  will  be 
a  credit  to  the  profession.  They  should  have  ab- 
stracts prepared  of  these  talks  for  the  use  of  the 
press,  and  should  see  that  they  reach  the  press  in 
due  time. 

Handling  Announcements.  An  effective  and  a 
very  inexpensive  method  of  making  announce- 
ments is  through  schools,  auctions,  public  events, 
and  societies,  especially  in  small  towns.  When  an 
event  of  special  interest  to  the  town  is  to  take 
place  a  typewritten  notice  should  be  sent  to  those 
people  who  preside  at  the  different  meetings  with 
the  request  that  they  read  this  notice  at  the  next 
meeting. 

Committee  Memberships  in  Local  Organiza- 
tions. Men  who  are  qualified  along  special  lines 
should  be  urged  to  join  the  various  civic  organiza- 
tions and  to  become  members  of  committees.  In 
this  way  the  engineering  profession  gets  a  repre- 
sentation on  different  civic  boards  and  much  con- 
structive influence  can  be  exerted.  Many  such  op- 
portunities are  presented  and  they  should  all  be 
taken  advantage  of. 


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THE  TORLD  FRIENDSHIP  BUREAU 

Room  1010.  410  S.  Michigan  Avenue,  Chicago,  111. 
Phone  -  Habash  5347 


November  19.  1921. 
Greetings: 

The  Porld  Friendship  Bureau  invites  your  co-operation  in  announcing  the 
Disarmament  Meet  to  be  held  at  the  Coliaeuci,  November  28,  29  and  30,  in  putting  up 
posters  that  will  be  sent  you,  circulating  the  subscription  blanks  for  reserved 
•eat  tickets,  and  encouraging  the  group  participation  of  your  organizations. 

If  the  quantity  of  subscriptions  from  your  group  for  reserved  sent  tickets 
10  oe  delivered  to  one  address  totals  not  less  than  twenty-five  dollars,  a  discount 
of  twenty  percent  can  be  made  from  the  regular  rates. 

Please  send  in  reserved  seat  subscriptions  at  as  early  a  date  ae  possible 
Tours  in  the  work  for  International  Good-will  and  reduction  of  armaments. 

WORLD  FRIENDSHIP  BUREnU 
GENERAL  COMMITTEE  FOR  DISARMAMENT  MEET 

S.  J.  Dune on- Cl irk.  Chairman. 
Everett  W.  Lothrop,  Tr»a«ur«r. 

per  Mary  L.  Read, 

Director. 

SUBSCRIPTIONS  FOR  DISARMAMENT  MEET.  THE  COLISEUM,  NOVEMBER  28.  29.  30.  1921. 

THE  WORJ.D  FRIENDSHIP  BUREAU 

Room  1010,  410  S.  Michigan  avenue.  Chicago.  111. 
Phone  Wabash  5347 

Please  send  reserve  tickets  as  checked  below: 

for  »ov.  ZQ,  Will  Irwin,  "The  Next  War"  -  Totals 

seats  9  25?   seats  9  50?   seats  0  31.00  8 

For  H$v.  29,  Frank  C.  Bray,  "The  Washington  Conference"  - 

, seats  8  25^   seats  0  50?   seats®  81. 00  £ 

For  Bov.  30,  Symposium  and  Convocation  on  International  Good-will  - 

seats  9  25?   seats  9  SO?   seats  9  81.00  8 

Total  amount  enclosed fc 


SAME Phone. 

ADDRESS Dmte_ 

Same  of  Organi>ation_ 


(if  seats  are  desired  with  an  or sanitation  group; 


Top — Letter  of  announcement  calling  for  attendance 
at  a  mass  meeting,  assisting  in  giving  publicity  to  the 
meeting. 

Bottom — Accompanying '  blank  form  for  reservations. 

Distinguished  speakers,  a  band  concert,  and  com- 
munity singing  are  used  as  a  means  of  increasing  at- 
tendance. 


Direct  by  mail  announcement. 


H4  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

Personal  Work  of  Organizers.  The  most  direct 
method  of  accomplishing  immediate  and  lasting  re- 
sults is  through  a  paid  organizer.  The  details  of 
such  work  are  too  voluminous  to  be  discussed  here, 
but  in  the  main  they  are  simply  the  rules  of  sales- 
manship. 

Mass  Meetings.  A  mass  meeting,  to  be  effective, 
must  be  held  at  a  time  when  the  public  is  ready 
for  action.  There  must  be  existing  an  immense 
amount  of  public  interest  about  the  object  for 
which  the  mass  meeting  is  called.  The  ordinary 
procedure  at  a  mass  meeting  is  to  select  a  chair- 
man, have  an  open  discussion  and  also  appoint  a 
committee  on  resolutions,  and  have  the  resolutions 
reported  to  the  meeting.  Mass  meetings  are  al- 
ways a  subject  of  comment  for  the  newspapers 
and  are  most  effective  methods  of  arousing  public 
notice  on  any  subject  of  public  interest. 

Receptions  to  Special  Groups.  When  an  engi- 
neer of  note  visits  town  some  effort  should  be 
made  to  provide  a  fitting  reception  for  him.  This 
usually  consists  of  the  appointing  of  a  committee, 
providing  hotel  accommodations  and  entertain- 
ment while  the  visitor  is  in  the  city,  and  any  spe- 
cial meetings  which  may  be  desirable.  It  should 
be  remembered  that  most  prominent  visitors  are 
over-entertained  rather  than  under-entertained.  Be 
sure  that  breathing  spells  are  allowed  your  vis- 
itor and  he  will  leave  with  a  much  higher  opinion 
of  you.  Consider  his  convenience  first.  For  being 
entertained  is  a  strenuous  business,  in  many  cases, 
for  the  one  who  is  entertained.  Always  ask  the 


THE  PUBLICITY  MAN 


visitor  whom  he  would  like  to  visit  before  the  intro- 
duction. This  is  only  courtesy.  When  an  impor- 
tant organization  holds  a  meeting  in  the  city  it  is 
frequently  possible  to  give  them  a  reception.  In 


MEGHAN  CAL  DEPARTMENT 
••  SHOPS- --LABORATORIES-- 


CHART 

SHOWI  NG 

SALARIES  FOR  COMPARABLE  POSITIONS 

AS  AND 


An  excellent  form  of  comparative  chart. 

this  way  very  often  friendships  are  formed  that 
are  of  great  value  in  future  business  connections. 
Technical  Methods.  The  detailed  methods  used 
in  some  typical  promotional  problems  are  given  in 
Chapter  VI.  It  must  be  remembered,  however, 
that  ingenuity  is  the  chief  asset  of  the  publicity 
man.  Methods  change  continually.  Methods  good 
to-day  are  frequently  worthless  to-morrow. 


1922  Publicity  Contest 

QN  SEPTEMBER  1,  the  publicity  contest  for  1922  begins.  The 
^  rules  for  this  contest  are  given  on  this  page.  Each  year 
publicity  contests  have  produced  better  results  and  have  suc- 
ceeded in  arousing  the  interest  of  the  chapter  in  advancing  the 
interests  of  engineers.  This  year  the  rules  have  been  simplified 
and  there  should  be  little  difficulty  on  th  part  of  various  chapter 
publicity  committees  in  submitting  publicity. 

Special  attention  is  called  to  the  rule  that  all  publicity  must  be 
pasted  in  strings.  Many  of  the  difficulties  that  have  arisen  in 
previous  contests  will  be  obviated  by  strict  adherence  to  this  rule. 
Also,  publicity  must  be  certified,  in  order  to  be  credited. 

Divisions 

Division  One    — Chapters  in  cities  of  200,000  or  over. 

Division  Two    — Chapters  in  cities  of  50,000  to  200,000  population. 

Division  Three — Chapters  in  cities  of  less  than  50,000  population. 

Division  Four  — State  Chapters. 

Division  Five   — Student  Chapters. 

Rules 

Paste  clippings  in  string  with  name  of  paper  and  date  of  issue 
on  reverse  side  of  each  clipping  and  place  certification  at  bottom 
of  each  string.  Send  in  publicity  strings  at  the  end  of  each 
month  only. 

Publicity  must  contain  the  words  "professional  engineer"  or  the 
words  "American  Association  of  Engineers"  and  be  printed  as 
a  direct  result  of  the  efforts  of  the  chapter  or  club  submitting 
the  publicity. 

Items  printed  in  chapter  bulletins  will  not  be  considered  in  the 
contest. 

Prizes 

At  the  close  of  the  contest  on  March  31,  1922,  the  total  number 
of  column  inches  of  publicity  of  each  contestant  will  be  measured 
and  the  winner  determined  on  the  basis  of  the  amount  of  space 
obtained  by  those  in  each  division.  Division  winners  will  then 
compete  to  determine  which  of  them  has  the  highest  quality 
of  publicity.  Judges  will  be  appointed  by  the  National  Executive 
Committee. 

A  certificate  for  framing  will  be  presented  to  each  division 
winner. 

The  grand  prize  will  be  a  decorated  banner,  showing  the  name 
of  the  winner  for  the  year.  Permanent  possession  of  the  banner 
can  be  earned  by  winning  three  years  in  succession.  The  banner 
is  now  held  by  Missoula,  Montana. 


How  an  association  contest  was  conducted. 


THE  PUBLICITY  MAN  117 

Service  Precedes  Publicity.  Once  more,  let  the 
publicity  man  remember  that  publicity  is  based  on 
public  service.  The  better  the  public  realizes  what 
engineers  can  do  for  them,  the  more  the  public  will 
do  for  engineers.  There  is  no  limit  to  what 
engineers  have  done,  can  do,  or  will  do. 

The  following  story  of  what  one  engineer  did  in 
politics,  with  the  help  of  other  engineers,  illus- 
trates how  true  public  service  brings  the  only 
really  valuable  publicity.  A  few  years  ago  the 
better  element  of  Philadelphia — which  is  in  the 
majority  in  every  city  whenever  it  is  unified — 
ousted  a  certain  political  organization  and  elected 
an  old  Quaker  as  its  mayor.  He  went  to  Frederick 
M.  Taylor,  the  great  pioneer  in  scientific  manage- 
ment, and  asked  him,  "Can  scientific  management 
be  applied  to  the  affairs  of  municipalities,  as  you 
have  applied  it  to  manufacturing  industries?" 

"In  some  ways,  better;  in  some  ways,  not  so 
well,"  was  the  reply. 

The  Mayor  said,  "I  want  you  to  take  the  job, 
then,  as  Director  of  Public  Works  of  Philadelphia." 
Mr.  Taylor  replied:  "I  can't  do  it.  The  principal 
reason  is  that  the  doctors  have  given  me  just  two 
years  to  live,  but  I  know  a  man  who  will  be  de- 
lighted to  have  the  opportunity  to  show  what  en- 
gineers can  do  in  that  line." 

One  of  the  first  things  he  did  was  to  call  in  sev- 
eral prominent  engineers,  and  they  ripped  into  a 
new  wall,  for  which  the  people  of  Philadelphia 
were  to  pay  two  million  dollars.  They  found  rail- 
road ties,  ashes,  and  everything  else,  where  there 


STATEMENT  OF  PUBLICITY 


THE  PUBLICITY  MAN  119 

should  have  been  solid  concrete.  They  took  the 
case  through  the  courts.  The  courts  condemned 
the  entire  work.  The  taxpayers  of  Philadelphia 
were  paid  the  two  million  dollars,  and  they  have 
had  a  pretty  friendly  feeling  towards  engineers 
since,  and  have  had  a  good  object  lesson  of  what 
engineers  can  do. 

No  better  example  of  publicity  could  be  given 
than  that  which  resulted  from  this  case,  and  the 
investigation  resulted  in  the  purely  political  em- 
ployees being  dropped,  while  the  men  who  did  the 
work  in  that  department,  the  engineers,  got  the 
compensation  they  deserved. 

The  Fundamental  Object — To  Improve  the  En- 
vironment in  Which  People  Live.  To  tell  an 
honest  story  the  public  relations  man  must  know 
many  of  the  most  intimate  business  details,  and 
while  he  may  not  tell  the  public  all  of  the  details, 
he  must  have  this  background  for  his  work. 

Effective  publicity  has  an  intangible  quality 
which  is  often  lacking  in  advertising,  and  which 
carries  conviction.  Its  spirit  is  conveyed  by  the 
use  of  words  just  as  an  atmosphere  is  created  by 
the  playing  of  a  master  musician,  or  by  a  great 
writer.  The  purpose  back  of  the  writer,  the  lec- 
turer, the  service  man,  the  advertisement,  the  mo- 
tion picture,  or  the  booklet  is  expressed  in  the 
medium ;  so  what  is  attempted  to  be  said,  and  what 
is  actually  said,  may  create  entirely  different  im- 
pressions. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  only  part  of  the 
people  know  what  the  other  part  is  doing,  and  the 


I2O 


PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 


story  is  interesting  to  one  which  is  commonplace 
to  the  other.  Any  organization  must  consider  its 
own  affairs  as  also  the  affairs  of  other  people.  It 
is  the  job  of  the  public  relations  man  to  educate 
people  as  to  what  is  going  on  in  the  field  over 
which  he  has  supervision.  He  is  an  ambassador 


LIBRARY  & 
busvcss  RESEARCH 


Puanc  INFORMATION 
DIRECTOR 


ADVERTISING 
AGENCY 


I  MAGAZINE  I  IDIRCCTBYMAU. 
ADVERTISING!  I  ADVCRTISINQ 


OFFICE 


COPY  \DEAS 

FORM  LETTERS 

STENOGRAPHIC 

News  STORIES 

COPY  PRODUCTION 

FOLDERS 

FILING 

EDITING  REPORTS 

ART  WORK 

BOOKLETS 

MIMEOGRAPHING 

HOUSE  OR6AN 

SCHEDULES 

PREMIUMS 

MULTU3RAPHIN6 

PHOTOGRAPHY 

PRINTING 

CATALOGS 

MAILING  LISTS 

MOTION  PICTURES 

PRINTING 

CONTRACTS 

EXHIBITS  AND 

PHOTOGRAPHS 

CONVENTIONS 

&OOKS 

Functional  organization  of  a  typical  public  information 
department. 

Note. — This  plan  for  a  public  information  department  is  devel- 
oped for  a  complete  organization  acting  independently  and  cover- 
ing the  entire  field  of  sales  and  institutional  advertising,  and 
magazine  and  newspaper  publicity.  No  provision  is  made  for 
service  work  or  bookkeeping,  and  but  small  provision  is  made 
for  co-operative  work  in  educational  institutions. 


THE  PUBLICITY  MAN  121 

from  his  organization  to  the  public  at  large,  and 
the  mediums  and  methods  that  he  uses  are  those 
that  will  best  tell  the  why  and  wherefore,  and  will 
be  educational  in  value.  The  object  is  not  so  much 
to  sell  goods  or  to  inculcate  ideas  as  it  is  to  im- 
prove the  environment  in  which  people  live;  and 
unless  public  relations  work  is  based  on  this  broad 
conception,  it  will  be  largely  futile. 


THt  AA-t  CJIN  PUT  IT  /CP055/ 
ELEVATIOH  ( 


An  unusual  meeting  announcement. 


CHAPTER  VI 

TYPICAL  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS 
Engineers'  Week  in  Missoula 

Presenting  Engineering  Activities  to  a  Community 

With  a  slogan  as  a  keynote,  the  Missoula  Chap- 
ter of  the  American  Association  of  Engineers 
staged  an  "Engineers*  Week,"  March  13  to  20, 
1921.  The  object  was  to  bring  before  the  general 
public  the  importance  of  engineering  work  and 
engineering  principles  in  the  daily  life  of  the  com- 
munity. The  measure  of  success  achieved  was 
summed  up  by  the  Mayor  of  Missoula,  Montana, 
and  the  manager  of  the  Missoula  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce at  the  Engineers'  luncheon  when  they  both 
stated  that  the  organization  had  shown  the  com- 
munity that  they  were  interested  in  and  equipped 
to  handle  efficiently  local  problems  of  an  engineer- 
ing nature. 

Here  is  the  story  of  the  demonstration  as  told  by 
W.  J.  Scofield,  in  Professional  Engineer,  May,  1921. 

First,  a  formal  application  for  membership  in 
the  Missoula  Chamber  of  Commerce  was  made 
and  granted  in  the  name  of  the  chapter  secretary, 
who  appointed  some  member  to  serve  on  each 
Chamber  of  Commerce  committee  dealing  with 
problems  of  an  engineering  nature. 

This  first  important  step  in  community  co-opera- 

123 


124  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

tion  immediately  emphasized  the  need  of  inform- 
ing the  general  public  of  the  importance  of 
engineering  in  the  daily  life  of  the  community.  The 
president  appointed  a  committee  of  five  to  arrange 
for  "Engineers'  Week."  This  committee  drafted 
into  service  the  entire  membership. 

The  committee  offered  a  $5  prize  to  the  school 
boy  or  girl  submitting  the  best  slogan  to  be  used 
during  the  week.  A  boy  of  14  years  won  the  prize. 


E 


fficient 
ngineering 
nsures 
ffective 

conomy 


Prize-winning  slogan  in  Missoula  contest. 

Much  interest  was  created  among  the  school  chil- 
dren of  the  community,  and  this  interest  reached 
its  height  on  Saturday  evening  of  the  week,  when 
over  200  students  attended  an  interesting  motion 
picture  show,  prefaced  by  short  engineering  talks, 
given  in  the  high  school  auditorium. 

The  committee  was  swamped  with  ideas  and 
suggestions  for  the  Week,  many  of  which  had  to 
be  discarded  or  abandoned  on  account  of  the  lack 
of  time  or  money  necessary  to  make  adequate 
preparation.  The  Missoula  mercantile  establish- 
ments very  liberally  donated  their  window  space 
for  display  purposes  and  fifteen  windows  were 
used  as  follows: 


TYPICAL  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  125 

1.  Road  and  bridge  display. 

2.  Engineers'  shoes  and  clothing. 

3.  Electrically  operated  pumping  system. 

4.  Hydraulic  display. 

5.  Map  and  mapping. 

6.  Chemical  engineering. 

7.  Grade  crossing  separation. 

8.  Engineering  tests. 

9.  Engineering  in  China. 
10.  Engineers'  hats. 

n.  Engineers'  rations. 

12.  Engineering  instruments. 

13.  International  Correspondence  School. 

14.  Engineering  equipment. 

15.  Electrical  motors. 

The  grade  crossing  display  attracted  the  most 
attention.  Only  a  few  days  previous  a  crossing 
accident  had  occurred  a  few  miles  east  of  the  city. 
The  remains  of  the  automobile  as  drawn  into  the 
city  on  a  truck  were  shown  in  a  photograph  in  the 
window  with  a  list  of  the  parts  salvaged  and  an 
estimated  cost  of  the  elimination  of  the  crossing. 
Part  of  this  display  is  illustrated  on  page  73. 

A  placard,  "Patrick,  the  Patron  Saint  of  Engi- 
neers," with  a  green  bow  thereon  appeared  in  each 
window  on  March  17;  and  the  newspapers  printed 
a  short  story  about  the  Guard  of  St.  Patrick,  an 
organization  of  several  middle-western  engineering 
schools  based  on  the  legend  that  St.  Patrick  was 
an  engineer  and  is  therefore  the  friend  of  engineers. 

A  restaurant  featured  an  Engineers'  dinner  on 
their  menu  cards  for  Monday  of  the  Week.  Moving 
pictures  of  engineering  projects  were  featured  at 
the  various  theatres  of  the  city  and  served  to  in- 


126  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

terest   large   audiences   in   the   importance   of   en- 
gineering activities. 

On  Wednesday  evening  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce and  Rotary  Club  were  guests  of  the  engi- 
neers in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  club  rooms, 
where  both  organizations  were  well  represented. 
Addresses  were  made  by  George  Weisel,  president 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  John  N.  Edy, 
chief  engineer  of  the  State  Highway  Commission, 
which  particularly  brought  out  the  fact  that  a  spirit 
of  co-operation  is  necessary  between  the  engineer 
and  the  public  before  any  important  community 
program  can  be  successfully  carried  out.  Motion 
picture  films  were  also  shown  of  the  Washington 
Water  Power  Companies  hydro-electric  develop- 
ment and  of  modern  concrete  road  construction. 

The  week  was  full  of  earnest  endeavor;  and,  if 
we  are  to  judge  by  the  many  compliments  be- 
stowed upon  us  by  Missoula  business  men,  it  closed 
a  week  of  distinct  engineering  progress  in  this 
community.  A  final  Engineers'  luncheon  was  held 
on  Saturday. 

Success  was  made  possible  only  by  the  whole- 
hearted support  of  the  members,  the  co-operation 
of  Missoula  business  men  and  commercial  organi- 
zations, and  the  generous  assistance  of  the  Mis- 
soula newspapers,  which  furnished  an  average  of 
a  column  a  day  devoted  to  engineering  articles  of 
more  or  less  local  interest.  These  articles  showed 
the  wide  diversification  and  application  of  engi- 
neering, besides  giving  proper  space  to  the  meet- 
ings and  activities  of  the  week.  Without  any  re- 


TYPICAL  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  127 

duction  of  his  quality  standard  the  chairman  of  the 
publicity  committee  and  his  assistants  were  able 
to  obtain  about  600  column  inches  of  publicity  dur- 
ing this  week  alone.  As  one  editor  said  after  the 
week,  'The  public  was  not  allowed  to  lose  sight 
of  the  significance  of  engineering." 

Promoting  a  National  Highway 

Following  are  some  of  the  methods  used  in  pro- 
moting the  Custer  Battlefield  Highway  through 
South  Dakota,  methods  which  are  typical  of  this 
class  of  work. 

An  association  was  formed  and  a  committee  to 
carry  on  the  work  organized.  This  committee  ob- 
tained money  from  cities  along  the  route  of  the 
highway  and  a  paid  secretary  was  employed.  This 
secretary  continued  the  work  of  obtaining  money 
by  pledges  and  in  one  year  held  seventy-two  meet- 
ings, raising  in  pledges  over  $100,000  and  collect- 
ing in  cash  about  $2,000.  As  many  as  six  employees 
were  engaged  on  the  promotional  work  of  the  or- 
ganization in  the  busy  season. 

Road  Reports.  Postal  card  reports  of  road  con- 
ditions were  issued  every  Saturday  from  the  main 
office,  giving  information  obtained  from  advertis- 
ers, secretaries,  directors,  and  the  state  highway 
department.  The  highway  was  divided  into  sec- 
tions for  easy  reference.  The  total  edition  was 
about  170  postal  cards  a  week. 

Direct  Advertising.  Printed  matter  was  dis- 
tributed as  follows:  9,000  pieces  at  different  au- 
tomobile shows,  44,000  pieces  through  the  main 


128  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

office,  advertisers,  commercial  clubs,  and  cham- 
bers of  commerce,  and  in  other  ways,  making  a 
total  distribution  of  86,000  pieces  of  matter.  The 
postage  bill  for  July,  a  busy  month,  not  including 
pamphlets  and  matter  sent  by  express,  was  $108.26. 
During  the  summer,  an  average  of  twenty-five  let- 
ters were  received  and  in  two  days  sixty-seven  in- 
quiries came  in.  Three  assistants  were  employed 
to  handle  extra  work. 

Automobile  Demonstration.  There  were  fifty- 
three  automobiles  in  a  caravan  organized  by  the 
Boy  Scouts  which  traveled  over  a  route  through 
South  Dakota  and  Northern  Wyoming  to  Yellow- 
stone Park.  The  caravan  travelled  on  schedule  and 
was  well  received  throughout  the  route. 

Magazine  Articles.  Magazine  articles  about  the 
highway  appeared  in  the  New  York  Times,  New 
York  Evening  Post,  Chicago  Record-Herald,  Chicago 
Examiner,  Popular  Mechanics,  Review  of  Reviews, 
and  other  publications  of  national  circulation. 

Registration  Bureau.  An  information  bureau 
was  organized  to  determine  just  how  many  people 
were  travelling  over  the  highway;  where  they  were 
going;  what  advertising  they  saw;  why  they  took 
the  route;  how  many  miles  they  travelled  on  the 
route;  their  opinion  of  the  towns  along  the  route; 
the  marketing;  the  camping  grounds;  and  the 
treatment  received. 

Bureaus  were  opened  in  towns  along  the  high- 
way, ten  of  which  were  active.  There  were  3,700 
cars  registered,  representing  10,077  people.  It  is 
estimated  that  5,000  cars  travelled  the  route  be- 
tween May  and  August,  1921. 


TYPICAL  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  129 

Exhibitions.  Exhibits  were  placed  at  the  auto- 
mobile shows  in  five  cities  along  the  route  and 
also  at  the  American  Highway  Convention  in  Chi- 
cago, where  2,000  people  registered  at  the  booth 
and  6,000  pieces  of  literature  were  distributed. 

Publicity  Stunts.  White  Eagle,  the  Indian  poet, 
rode  Red  Bird,  the  little  cow  pony  from  Hardin, 
Montana,  to  Omaha.  This  stunt  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  thousands  of  people,  and  much  comment 
in  local  papers  resulted  from  his  trip. 

Motion  Pictures.  A  motion  picture  reel  of  the 
Indian's  trip  was  made  and  a  contract  signed  with 
the  association  whereby  a  New  York  syndicate 
showed  the  reel  in  the  East.  Four  extra  prints 
were  made  and  started  on  a  circuit  from  the  main 
office.  It  is  estimated  that  over  1,000,000  people 
saw  this  picture. 

Bond  Issues.  Bond  issues  were  stimulated  in 
counties  of  the  states  through  which  the  highway 
passed  by  personal  visits  of  the  secretary  to  the 
different  towns  to  stir  up  interest. 

Bill  Boards  and  Signs.  Eight  large  bill  boards 
were  erected  calling  attention  to  the  features  of 
the  route.  A  typical  sign  was  sixteen  feet  long, 
located  on  a  straight  piece  of  road  along  the  rail- 
road, with  the  words,  "Custer  Battlefields  High- 
way for  the  Two  National  Parks;"  this  sign  could 
be  seen  by  tourists  both  on  the  highway  and  on 
the  railroad.  These  signs  were  found  to  be  par- 
ticularly effective. 

Direction  signs  were  erected  at  all  points  where 
they  were  needed  and  painted  signs  placed  on  tele- 


130  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

graph  poles  and  direction  posts.  These  painted 
signs  were  coated  with  varnish  for  protection. 

In  re-marking  signs,  in  one  trip  of  nine  weeks 
sixty-two  new  posts  were  erected,  seventy  reset, 
and  5,000  painted  signs  on  telegraph  poles  and 
posts  were  repainted  and  varnished. 

Material  Benefits.  It  is  estimated  by  the  Auto- 
mobile Association  of  America  that  tourists  spend 
$5  a  person  each  day.  The  total  sum  spent  by 
tourists  over  the  highway  was  estimated  at 
$470,000,  allowing  a  week's  time  to  cover  the  high- 
way. Reports  from  the  information  bureaus,  ho- 
tels and  garages  show  that  there  was  an  average 
of  forty  cars  a  day  during  the  tourists'  season. 
These  tourists  were  what  are  known  as  "cash  cus- 
tomers", and  merchants  and  business  men  found 
their  business  very  profitable.  There  is  an  added 
advantage,  that  many  tourists  buy  lands,  and 
homes,  and  make  investment  along  the  route. 

Promoting  a  Large  Pageant 

In  planning  the  Pageant  of  Progress — a  two- 
weeks'  business  exposition,  held  in  Chicago  in  the 
summer  of  1921 — the  following  methods  were  em- 
ployed : 

Various  portions  of  the  city  were  organized  in 
districts,  following  geographic  lines,  and  each  one 
of  these  districts  prepared  its  own  community 
pageant  and  held  entertainments  preliminary  to 
the  main  Pageant  of  Progress  Exposition.  The  type 
of  entertainment  and  the  method  of  selection  of 


TYPICAL  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  131 

the  queen  of  the  district  varied  in  the  different  lo- 
calities. Bands,  picnics,  dances,  and  parades  in- 
cluding floats,  the  American  Legion,  Boy  Scouts, 
and  High  School  Cadets  were  features  of  many 
of  these  community  efforts. 

A  leading  newspaper  held  a  contest  for  the  se- 
lection of  the  queen  of  the  pageant  from  all  the 
districts.  In  addition  each  community  selected  its 
own  queen,  prizes  being  offered  ranging  in  value 
from  $100  to  $500,  including  diamond  rings,  art 
watches,  a  ticket  to  Niagara  Falls,  cash,  savings 
accounts,  etc.  The  method  of  selection  varied 
from  the  merchandise-coupon  vote  system  to 
the  photographic  contest  and  personal  inspection 
method,  depending  largely  upon  the  residential  or 
industrial  nature  of  the  district. 

The  final  selection  of  the  queen  was  made  at  the 
opening  of  the  main  Pageant  of  Progress  Exposi- 
tion. The  city  was  divided  into  eleven  districts, 
each  headed  by  a  district  chairman  under  whose 
direction  new  organizations  were  formed  where 
necessary,  new  life  injected  into  the  weak  organi- 
zations, and  several  organizations  in  each  section 
were  joined  for  necessary  work. 

The  celebrations  growing  out  of  the  work  of 
these  district  chairmen  included  a  field  day  in  one 
district  which  entailed  choral  singing,  baseball 
games,  field  stunts,  and  other  features;  in  another 
district  a  water  carnival  was  staged  with  motor 
boat  races ;  and  in  another  a  day  on  which  local  in- 
dustries were  featured.  A  four-mile  parade  was  a 
feature  of  another  district. 


132          PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

During  the  exposition  one  day  was  allotted  to 
each  district  or  special  group  such  as  fraternal 
day,  commercial  group  day,  Hungarian  day,  etc. 

Historical  and  educational  phases  of  the  different 
industries  were  presented,  including  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  history  of  progress  by  actual  display  of 
the  early  stage  coach,  the  first  engine,  and  the 
original  McCormick  reaper.  The  first  telephone 
in  the  country  was  shown  as  the  beginning  of  the 
vast  system  now  connecting  all  parts  of  the  country. 
The  woodworker  demonstrated  his  skill  in  the 
manufacture  of  wood  decorations.  Paper,  oriental 
rugs,  shoes,  cloth,  ice  cream,  butter  and  cheese,  and 
many  other  articles  were  shown  in  the  process  of 
manufacture.  The  process  of  oil-refining  was  wit- 
nessed in  every  stage,  and  moving  pictures  illus- 
trated the  steps  in  the  production  of  a  newspaper. 

A  unique  feature  of  the  exposition  program  was 
the  race  between  carrier  pigeons,  an  automobile, 
an  airplane,  and  a  motorcycle. 

Venetian  nights  with  firework  displays,  singing 
in  barges  around  the  shore,  and  picturesque  pa- 
geantry were  features. 

Campaign  for  Rehabilitating  a  City  Water  System 

In  the  campaign  for  the  rehabilitation  of  the 
water  system  of  Parsons,  Kansas,  says  R.  E. 
McDonnell  in  Professional  Engineer,  February,  1922, 
plans,  maps,  estimates  and  summaries  of  the  report 
were  prepared  on  a  large  scale  for  use  in  win- 
dow displays.  About  seventy-five  stereopticon 


TYPICAL  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  133 

slides  were  made  and  used  at  mass  meetings 
and  before  civic  organizations.  Municipal  band 
concerts  were  held  outdoors  and  following  the 
concerts  all  features  of  the  project  were  ex- 
plained— cost  estimates,  operating  expenses,  de- 
preciation allowance,  bond  sinking  fund,  revenues 
and  rates,  with  net  income,  were  shown  through 
graphical  diagrams.  All  engineering  features  were 
so  clearly  explained  that  a  prominent  attorney, 
commenting  on  the  project,  said:  "The  engineer- 
ing is  shorn  of  its  technical  features  and  we  are 
now  all  engineers  and  see  the  soundness  of  the 
whole  project." 

The  Parsons  Sun  expressed  a  willingness  to  pub- 
lish a  series  of  water  works  articles,  which  were 
prepared  by  the  engineers.  These  articles  were 
run  daily,  many  of  them  being  illustrated  by  views 
showing  both  the  present  conditions  of  the  water 
works  system  and  the  proposed  improvements. 
Over  fifty  of  these  articles  were  prepared  and 
used.  They  were  written,  not  as  a  technical  jour- 
nal would  use  them,  but  as  newsy,  interesting 
items.  To  test  their  power  to  interest  readers,  an 
interruption  was  intentionally  made,  which  caused 
many  telephone  calls  of  inquiry  and  request  for  the 
articles  to  continue.  Some  knowledge  of  the  fifty 
articles  may  be  gained  by  quoting  some  of  the 
titles :  "Why  the  Women  of  Parsons  Want  Pure, 
Soft  Water,"  "How  Good  Health  Can  Be  Pur- 
chased," "What  Happens  When  a  Water  Famine 
Occurs,"  "The  Cost  of  a  Typhoid  Epidemic."  A 
feature  of  the  improvements  was  a  modern  water 


134  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

purification  system  to  displace  a  very  inadequte 
and  antiquated  system.  Comparative  figures  were 
given  showing  the  saving  in  cost  of  operating  a 
modern  plant,  thus  showing  the  voters  that  they 
were  daily  losing  money  by  operating  an  inefficient 
plant,  besides  giving  the  city  an  unsafe  water  to 
drink.  Former  bad  fires  were  illustrated,  with 
tables  of  annual  fire  losses,  showing  the  fire  loss 
per  capita  far  above  that  of  other  cities.  Insurance 
rates  were  shown  to  be  exorbitant  because  of  the 
present  inadequate  protection.  Fire  losses  due  en- 
tirely to  poor  pressure  were  shown  to  exceed  the 
total  bond  issue  asked.  A  portion  of  the  improve- 
ments consisted  of  replacing  a  large  amount  of 
small  steel  and  wrought  iron  pipe,  also  replacing 
a  flow  line  of  spiral  riveted  steel  and  vitrified  pipe. 
The  leakage  figures  were  given,  showing  a  loss  of 
over  half  the  water  pumped.  Exhibits  of  this  worn- 
out  pipe  were  placed  at  prominent  street  corners, 
with  placards  giving  age,  when  removed,  etc.  The 
per  capita  cost  of  the  Parsons  proposed  improve- 
ments was  shown  to  be  less  than  that  of  about 
twenty-five  cities  similarly  situated. 

The  generation  of  electricity  for  operating  low 
service  pumps  over  a  ten-mile  transmission  line  to 
the  River  Station  and  also  low  service  pumps  at 
the  City  Station,  lighting  the  grounds  and  sta- 
tions was  a  part  of  the  improvements  strongly  op- 
posed by  a  private  company,  wanting  to  sell  elec- 
tricity to  the  city.  This  feature  involved  a  fight 
for  municipal  ownership,  with  all  its  advantages, 
to  be  shown  by  the  engineers.  The  salesmen  with 


TYPICAL  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  135 

something  to  sell  in  the  way  of  machinery,  equip- 
ment, pipe,  oil  engines,  and  steam  engines  were 
very  active,  making  it  necessary  for  the  engineers 
to  make  an  unbiased  report  on  each,  and  thus  fore- 
stalling opposition  to  the  bonds. 

The  publicity  campaign  through  the  papers  and 
by  personal  presentation  of  the  plans  before  civic 
organizations  continued  for  four  weeks,  with  an 
intensive  speaking  campaign  for  one  week,  when 
twenty-one  meetings  were  addressed,  in  explaining 
the  engineering,  economic,  and  health  features  of 
the  project.  Noon  meetings  were  addressed  when 
factory,  shop,  and  office  employees  were  reached. 
Slides  were  distributed  daily  to  all  the  picture 
shows,  showing  some  special  features  of  the  im- 
provements. Local  speakers  were  organized  and 
ten-minute  talks  at  all  picture  shows  were  made 
during  the  closing  week.  Church  announcements 
were  made,  calling  attention  to  the  necessity  of 
good  citizens  voting  either  for  or  against,  but  leav- 
ing them  to  form  their  own  conclusions. 

The  women  voters,  through  the  Parsons  Fed- 
erated Women's  Clubs,  sponsored  the  final  mass 
meeting,  bringing  before  the  women  voters  the 
importance  of  the  water  supply  from  the  stand- 
point of  health,  hygiene,  sanitation,  beautiful 
lawns,  clean  streets,  swimming  pools,  and  school 
and  street  drinking  fountains. 

Various  business  men  co-operated  and  jointly 
carried  full-page  advertisements  recalling  former 
water  famines,  bad  fires,  and  showing  what  the 
new  improvements  could  offer  in  the  way  of  se- 
curing new  industries  in  Parsons. 


136          PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

Home  owners  were  clearly  shown  by  figures 
that  not  a  dollar  of  taxes  would  be  added,  but  that 
the  revenue  would  make  the  plant  self-supporting. 

The  engineers  conducting  the  campaign  had  the 
support  and  active  aid  of  the  Mayor,  but  no  aid  nor 
co-operation  from  one  of  the  Commissioners,  and 
the  active  opposition  of  the  other  Commissioner, 
until  two  days  previous  to  the  election,  when  his 
conversion  occurred  and  the  three  united  in  a 
printed  statement  favoring  the  bonds.  Other  early 
opposition  gradually  melted  away  as  the  project  be- 
came understood  and  those  who  had  opposed  came 
out  in  print  favoring  the  bond  issue.  In  their  ar- 
ticles and  talks  the  engineers  refrained  from  di- 
rectly urging  the  voters  to  support  the  bonds,  but 
took  the  position  of  a  disinterested  consulting  phy- 
sician to  a  sick  utility,  and  presented  their  prescrip- 
tion for  the  patient  in  the  form  of  plans,  estimates 
and  report,  and  all  features  of  these  were  clearly 
explained,  leaving  the  voters  to  form  their  own 
conclusions  how  they  wanted  to  vote. 

Promoting  a  County  Bond  Issue 

How  a  county  highway  engineer,  W.  C.  Can- 
ning, convinced  his  constituents  of  the  necessity 
for  a  $150,000  bond  issue  for  good  roads  is  told  by 
R.  C.  Yeoman  in  Professional  Engineer,  for  Feb- 
ruary, 1921. 

After  taking  office  as  county  engineer  he  began 
a  study  of  a  road  system  for  the  county  with  a 
swing  about  the  county  seeking  information  by 


TYPICAL  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  137 

direct  observation  and  consultation  with  the  most 
interested  taxpayers.  His  sincerity  and  thorough- 
ness soon  won  for  him  the  confidence  and  esteem 
of  all  of  those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  par- 
ticularly the  staff  of  the  local  newspaper.  He  soon 
learned  the  prevailing  sentiment  and  made  his  plans 
to  meet  conditions  as  he  found  them. 

The  primary  purpose  of  his  survey  and  investi- 
gation was  to  enable  him  to  design  a  system  of  road 
construction  and  repair  that  not  only  would  carry 
traffic  but  in  addition  would  give  as  much  comfort 
and  convenience  as  the  community  could  afford. 
He  made  a  complete  study  of  the  sources  of  ma- 
terial, the  geographical  location  of  the  roads,  the 
alignment  and  drainage,  the  traffic  needs  and  the 
economic  and  financial  relation  of  the  community 
to  these  roads. 

He  concluded  that  by  publicity  he  would  be  able 
to  accomplish  his  job  of  convincing  the  public  of 
the  necessity  of  adopting  a  sound  program.  While 
he  was  perfecting  his  plans  he  wrote  items  on  such 
economic  subjects  as  the  decrease  in  the  value  of 
the  dollar,  particularly  with  regard  to  construction, 
which  were  published  in  the  local  paper  to  prepare 
the  public  mind  for  future  judgment. 

No  inkling  of  his  plans  was  given  out  until  he  had 
complete  information  on  every  detail.  Then,  in  a 
full  page  newspaper  report  he  presented  a  complete 
map  and  a  discussion  of  his  proposal  which  included 
not  only  statistics  of  existing  conditions  and  an  out- 
line of  needed  improvements,  but  accurate  esti- 
mates of  the  cost  of  his  plan  for  remedying  the  road 


Poster  for  a  Bond  Issue 


O QUIRE  UTLEY  of  Smith  Mills  asks:  If  we  are 
^  using  all  the  present  levy  in  taking  care  of  our 
present  roads,  how  can  we  take  care  of  the  new  ones 
that  we  build  at  the  end  of  the  five  years? 

A  STITCH  in  time  saves  nine.  For  the  past  eight  or 
ten  years,  in  fact  practically  ever  since  our  present 
rock  roads  have  been  built,  no  systematic  effort  has  been 
made  to  maintain  them.  No  ditching  has  been  done,  no 
bridges  or  culverts  repaired,  and  the  roads  have  at  no 
time  been  resurfaced.  The  same  thing  holds  good  in  re- 
gard to  the  dirt  roads. 


TT  7OODEN  bridges  have  been  built  and  rotted  down 
***  in  two  or  three  years,  washouts  have  been  per- 
mitted to  grow  larger  from  year  to  year,  and  mud  holes 
have  existed  from  one  season's  end  to  the  other.  Had 
some  of  the  money  which  remained  in  the  county  treas- 
ury at  the  beginning  of  the  term  of  the  present  ad- 
ministration been  expended  upon  resurfacing  and  ditch- 
ing the  rock  roads,  building  permanent  bridges  and 
culverts,  and  in  proper  maintenance  methods  the  present 
large  expenditure  of  the  people's  funds  in  resurfacing 
roads  and  rebuilding  bridges  would  not  now  be  neces- 
sary. 

TV/fONEY  saved  by  penny-wise  and  pound-foolish  pol- 
icies  in  the  past  is  now  costing  the  people  of 
Henderson  County  the  same  sums  twice  over  in  repair 
and  reconstruction  work  that  would  have  been  unneces- 
sary if  spent  in  time. 

HP*  HE  present  policy  is  to  resurface  the  present  rock 
roads  entirely  within  a  period  of  three  years,  and 
building  anew  in  a  permanent  manner  the  bridges  and 
culverts  throughout  the  county.  If  this  policy  is  ad- 
hered to,  within  three  years  the  cost  of  maintaining  the 
present  rock  roads  and  the  dirt  roads  throughout  the 
county  will  be  materially  decreased,  and  ample  funds 
will  be  available  to  keep  all  of  our  roads  in  a  decent 
condition.  For  example,  the  Corydon  Road  is  estimated 
to  cost  $625  a  mile  per  annum  for  the  next  three  years 
to  put  it  in  a  satisfactory  condition — after  that  time 
the  cost  of  maintaining  this  road  will  be  less  than  one- 
half  of  this  sum. 


1HERE    is    where    the    money   will    come    from    to 
maintain  our  new  roads. 


140  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

conditions.  At  this  point  he  enlisted  the  further 
help  of  the  county  judge  and  the  editor  of  the  local 
newspaper,  who  both  gave  him  their  ablest  sup- 
port. He  followed  up  his  announcement  with  fur- 
ther newspaper  publicity  and  poster  advertising 
until  his  plan  was  so  thoroughly  "sold"  that  the 
whole  was  accepted  at  the  polls  without  the  change 
of  a  word  or  a  figure.  The  plan  covered  a  five-year 
program  of  new  road  construction  and  maintenance, 
embodying  a  total  expenditure  of  over  $150,000. 

The  care  with  which  his  campaign  was  planned 
is  indicated  by  the  change  of  nomenclature  from  a 
road  tax  to  a  road  levy  to  gain  the  psychological 
advantage  of  eliminating  the  word  "tax." 

Another  feature  worthy  of  mention  was  "one 
minute  interviews"  from  interested  taxpayers.  Hun- 
dreds were  asked,  "What  do  you  think  of  the  road 
levy?"  The  newspaper  was  glad  to  have  such  com- 
ment because  of  its  human  interest  element  and  the 
answers  were  published,  to  the  further  benefit  of 
the  campaign.  This  performance  may  seem  small 
or  large,  depending  upon  the  experience  and  loca- 
tion of  the  reader.  Its  execution,  however,  is  by 
no  means  unimportant. 

After  the  general  proposal  was  published,  cer- 
tain questions  came  up  which  were  answered  in  a 
very  complete  and  decisive  manner.  A  sample  of 
the  handbills  and  posters  is  shown. 

The  issue  was  put  up  squarely  to  the  voters  that 
it  was  their  adoption  of  the  road  levy  that  would 
raise  the  funds  to  provide  a  system  of  adequate 
highways  in  the  county  with  their  attendant  ad- 
vantages. The  people  voted  yes. 


Chapter 
Engineering  Publicity 


Typical  Examples  Selected 

from  the 
Cleveland  Engineering  Society 


By 

C.  E.  DRAYER 

(D.  P.  Clevens,  Norn  de  Plume) 

Secretary,  American  Association  of  Engineers, 

formerly  Secretary  of  Cleveland 

Engineering  Society 


- 


DAMAGE  CAUSED  BY  1 1||]^  jj[g|(|  |f .  ' 


TW-WFAWS: 


Btt' ESTATE  "  ^ 
HNSIUDHNG  :-' 
SMOKE  EVIL  P.. 


wia  nisas 

S«(*[  HiOUill 
KXT  TUSOAr 


BMNkKSMDIlE 

PW.  «~^«»  (W«B 


CIVIC  ACTIVITIES 

Big  Stick  Shown  in  Building  Code.  Swat  Building 
Code.  Cleveland  had  been  struggling  with  the  revision 
of  the  building  code.  The  actual  work  of  revision  was  done 
by  a  joint  committee  composed  of  the  Chairman  of  the  Build- 
ing Code  Committees  of  the  Cleveland  Engineering  Society, 
the  Builders  Exchange,  and  the  Cleveland  Chapter  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Architects.  The  code  has  been  care- 


fully  studied  by  the  committee  and  some  460  sections  have 
been  revised  and  260  new  sections  added,  the  City  Council 
turning  into  law  what  the  committee  approved.  It  was  an 
Herculean  task  to  which  these  men  gave  unselfishly  of  their 
time  without  remuneration  of  any  kind. 

Experts  Sought  to  Aid  in  Testing  City  Employees. 
Plan  Exam  for  City  Engineering  Force.  The  Civil 

Service  Commission  asked  the  society  to  assist  it  by  taking 
charge  of  the  preparation  and  marking  of  papers  for  engi- 
neering positions.  Results  to  both  the  society  and  the  Com- 
mission have  been  very  gratifying.  The  Commission  secured 
the  services  of  experts  at  no  cost  to  the  city,  whereas  during 
the  previous  year  it  had  paid  some  $900  for  examination  of 
candidates  for  engineering  positions,  yet  complaints  had  been 
made  that  proper  relative  weights  had  not  been  given  to 
experience  and  theoretical  training.  The  Secretary  of  the 
Commission  told  us  that  candidates  were  satisfied  after  the 
engineering  society  took  charge.  In  this  case  our  Publicity 
Committee  tipped  off  the  reporters  and  they  dug  up  their 
own  stories  from  the  Commission. 

Praise  Tech  Work,  But  Point  Out  Faults.  Vocational 
Guide  Urged  for  Pupils.  This  was  our  first  publicity 
work,  in  August  of  1912,  and  is  an  abstract  of  the  report 
of  the  Committee  on  Technical  Education  of  the  Society 
after  it  had  studied  Cleveland's  technical  schools. 

Civic  Clubs  Unite  to  Pick  Boys'  Jobs.  Reports  a  joint 
meeting  of  the  Engineering  Society,  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  to  discuss  vocational  guidance. 

Want  Committee  for  Crossing  Plan.  The  Bridge  and 
Grade  Crossing  Committees  of  the  society  found  little  had 
been  done  in  planning  the  work  of  grade  elimination  in  the 
city  in  a  systematic  manner  and  recommended  that  future 
work  be  anticipated  in  some  general  comprehensive  scheme. 

Yale  Man  to  Talk  Smoke  and  other  clippings  are  de- 
voted principally  to  arousing  public  sentiment  against  unnec- 
essary smoke  and  to  induce  as  many  as  possible  to  attend  a 
popular  lecture  on  "How  to  Burn  Soft  Coal  Economically  and 
Without  Smoke,"  delivered  by  Dr.  Breckenridge  at  a  joint 
meeting  between  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Engi- 
neering Society.  The  two  clippings  on  the  right  are  the 
reports  of  the  meeting,  which  was  attended  by  600  engineers, 
manufacturers  and  citizens.  The  editorial  in  the  lower  left 
corner  was  suggested  to  one  of  the  papers  after  the  editor's 
attention  had  been  called  to  the  annual  report  of  the  smoke 
inspector,  a  member  of  our  society.  The  report  was 
abstracted  and  recast  in  newspaper  style  in  a  three-quarter 
column  article. 


:j9/W    *     -s--     P      "<«•.        :' 

ygj^lJSg       New  Gammeter  Albatross  Aeroplane  Is  Last  Word  in  Safety  and  i 

IP  ^- 

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mjjjji 

I 


GETTING  STARTED  RIGHT 

THIS    shows    the   story   of    two   annual   dinners   and   our 
first  feature  article.     The  pictures    ("art,"  as  newspaper 
men  call  it)   at  the  center  are  of  Esselstyn,  president  of  the 
Detroit   Engineering    Society ;     Bell,   president   of    the   Engi- 
neer's   Society   of    Buffalo ;     Stucki,    president   of   the    Engi- 
neer's   Society   of    Western    Pennsylvania,   and   the   outgoing 
and  incoming  presidents  of  the  Cleveland  Engineering  Society. 
Engineers  Vote  to  Aid  Scholars  and   Engineers  May 
Raise  Fund  to  Aid  Students  were  in  the  morning  papers  the 


following  day.  There  were  two  reasons  why  space  was  small 
in  the  morning  papers.  One  was  the  late  hour  at  which  the 
banqueters  adjourned,  allowing  short  time  to  get  copy  in 
before  the  last  edition  of  the  papers  went  to  press.  The 
other  reason  was  that  Mr.  Bryan  had  inconsiderately — to  the 
society,  I  mean- -resigned  as  Secretary  of  State  on  the  day 
of  the  dinner,  taking  all  of  the  first  page  and  some  of  the 
succeeding  ones,  besides-  exciting  the  reporters.  The  pic- 
tures of  the  three  men  in  the  lower  left  center  were  in  the 
advance  notice  of  our  annual  dinners. 

New  Gammeter  Albatross  Aeroplane  is  Last  Word  in 
Speed  and  Safety  was  our  first  feature  article  and  appeared 
in  a  Sunday  magazine  section.  In  the  lower  left-hand  corner 
is  the  advance  notice  of  the  meeting,  consisting  of  a  picture 
of  the  speaker  and  some  100  words  telling  about  him  and 
what  he  was  to  talk  about.  When  we  went  to  the  Sunday  edi- 
tor and  asked  him  if  he'd  like  a  feature  article  on  flying  ma- 
chines he  said,  "Yes,  only  you  engineers  are  too  technical." 
We  told  him  we  were  interested  mainly  in  knowing  whether 
he  was  receptive  to  the  idea  and  that  he  didn't  need  to  print 
the  article  if  it  didn't  suit  him.  "That's  a  go,"  he  said. 

The  chairman  of  the  Publicity  Committee  has  been  seeking 
the  right  sort  of  an  assistant  for  a  long  time.  When  he 
found  a  young  man  ready  to  attempt  the  preparation  of  this 
article  under  his  direction,  he  felt  about  the  young  man  as 
the  editor  did  toward  the  article — he  might  come  through,  but 
past  evidence  was  to  the  contrary.  The  article  was  blocked 
out.  The  writer  came  back  with  a  sophomoric  composition,  a 
good  undergraduate  essay.  We  went  over  it  in  detail  and  he 
rewrote  it,  improving  it  considerably  and  approaching  news- 
paper style.  Again  it  was  given  back  to  him  to  rewrite.  He 
did  it  all  over  the  third  time  and  never  flinched.  The  editor 
was  highly  pleased.  After  that  our  Sunday  papers  were  eager 
for  our  feature  copy  and  one  article  was  paid  for.  Pay  had 
been  offered  previously,  but  then  we  told  the  editor  the  mate- 
rial was  not  for  sale.  The  effect  this  statement  had  upon 
him  was  worth  the  sacrifice  in  money. 


WHY  NO  BOAT  CAM 
WITHSTAND  A  TORPEDO 

Only  Protection  Afainst  Such   Di»«ter.  a  Befell 
(__,,  /~tnUT  Titanic    and    Lmiunia    Is    Prevention    of   Collijion 


The  Whyfor  of  That  Extra  Hour  of  Darkness  in  the  Morning 


FEATURING  SIMPLE  SUBJECTS 

Why  No  Boat  Can  Withstand  a  Torpedo.  This 
article  is  devoted  to  an  explanation  of  the  principles  of 
buoyancy  governing  the  design  of  ships.  By  picturing  the 
difficulties  an  urchin  meets  in  trying  to  keep  a  floating 
tomato  can  upright  until  he  discerns  that  he  must  put  some 
stones  in  the  can,  very  technical  terms  like  center  of  gravity, 
center  of  buoyancy  and  metacenter  can  be  introduced  with- 
out frightening  the  popular  reader.  Even  an  engineer  came 
to  us  and  told  us  that  he  enjoyed  the  article  and  learned 
several  things  from  reading  it. 

Touching  upon  the  point  of  timeliness  of  news,  this  article 
was  cast  for  the  presses  when  the  Eastland  capsized.  One 
of  the  editors  accused  us  of  being  accessories  before  the  fact. 
In  defense  we  would  say  had  the  Eastland  turned  over  a  week 
earlier,  the  caption  would  doubtless  have  been  different.  In 
this  article,  as  in  the  gun  pointing  one,  we  furnished  the  text 
and  diagram;  the  paper,  the  "rilling  in."  It  was  syndicated 
by  the  paper  that  published  it,  but  no  division  of  receipts  was 
made  with  the  Publicity  Committee.  We  have  since  done  a 
little  syndicating  of  our  own  but  not  for  money. 

The  Why  for  of  That  Extra  Hour  of  Darkness  in  the 
Morning.  For  several  years  a  few  misguided  reformers 
in  Cleveland  crusaded  to  have  the  city  adopt  Eastern  instead 
of  Central  Standard  time.  The  argument  is  based  on  the 
statement  that  by  Eastern  time  we  would  go  to  work  an  hour 
earlier  and  have  an  hour  more  for  outdoor  recreation  in  the 
afternoon.  The  writer  took  this  method  of  setting  before  the 
public  the  relation  of  daylight  to  darkness  throughout  the 
year  and  endeavored  to  show  that  one  time  is  as  good  as 
another  for  the  measure  of  the  24  hours,  but  that  the  vital 
thing  is  to  arrange  working  hours  so  as  to  use  daylight  most 
economically.  The  article  was  prompted  by  the  feeling  that 
it  was  a  duty  to  set  before  the  people  information  which  he, 
as  a  technical  man,  possessed  in  order  that  judgment  might 
be  based  on  fact. 


HOW  SCIENCE  HARNESSES  SOUND  AND  MAKES  SPEAKER  HEARD  IN  HALL 


D irSJfi'^HS    LV 
K  2?,  •  •"  -  ""•• ~-—  "••    i>Os. 

sra=*ss£ys  uS^j 

^^ 


^.•'CHv'^:;r"!EHs  oKHcsm*  w 


How  Your  Street     U.  S.  Next  in  Line  ^n 
Should  Be  Paved  Health  Insurance 


*s3sszrz£X2xz  Z£szSsfcA 


=fes«:-sr:rjr  ^esssssss-SrS- 


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"Don't  Make  Bookworms 
of  Children  in  School" 


HOW  CLEVELAND  WAS  PUT  ON  MAP  OF 
NICKEL  PLATE  BY  PROPHETIC  ENGINEER 


If  it  Hadn't  Seen  for  J.  A,  Lateha 
RailroaJ  Would  Not  Have  Come 
Thi*  Wuy  and  the  Van  &V.<r.)w<.''>« 
CouU  i\'or  lliu-c  bought  it  for  Their 
Ti-rnun^  f'.'.m." 


Wonders  Being  Worked  Right  Here  in 

Cleveland  on  Big  High  Level  Bridge 


LOCAL  HISTORY    INTEREST 

How  Cleveland  Was  Put  on  Map.  Valuation  work  on 
the  Nickel  Plate  Railroad  in  1913  brought  to  light  many 
events  of  human  interest  occurring  over  a  generation  ago. 
The  purchase  of  this  railroad  by  Cleveland  men  about  the 
time  this  history  came  to  light  furnishes  a  news  peg  for  the 
story.  The  article  contains  quotations  of  the  "now  it  can  be 
told"  kind,  settling  authentically  many  points  such  as  why 
the  road  passed  through  a  rival  city. 

Wonders  Being  Worked  Right  Here  in  Cleveland. 
When  the  SQi-foot  arch  was  being  built,  hundreds  of  citizens 
stood  on  the  old  viaduct  adjacent  and  watched  the  workmen 
spin  the  steel  web.  Occasionally  a  question  would  be  asked 
by  some  of  these  citizens,  "How  do  they  know  the  two  sides 
will  come  together?"  The  opportunity  for  a  good  engineer- 
ing story  to  appear  just  about  the  time  the  two  parts  joined 
is  obvious. 


Fran  ENGINEER  ING  AS  A  LIFE  WORK[~oF~ 

\WOJtLD\  No.  5— Iron  and  Steel  Making— By  S.  T.  Wellman  \  WORK 


THE 
WORLD 


ENGINEERING  AS  A  LIFE 

~~~Afe.  4-Electncal-By  W.  H.  Abbott 


The  Work  of  the  Engineer — What  a  Man  Must  be  and  Do  if  He  Succeeds 

,,««««,y.nr<rf'fA*ri«M?«W£nr"»**'-        "  -  '•  '.-'  '          "•'..,  ;./'/::     •;  ;.    '      *."•"    •'.;•.'-*    /*     *    '-.'.'..  •'"       .v.:..I,ftt 


ENGINEERING  AS  A  LIFE  WORK 

EARLY  in  our  publicity  work  there  was  published  in  one 
of  the  local  papers  a  letter  from  a  young  man  to  the 
editor  asking  what  the  opportunities  are  in  civil  and  mechan- 
ical engineering.  The  editor  printed  below  the  letter  a 
request  that  engineers  of  each  of  these  branches  answer  the 
question.  Of  course,  we  are  amused  that  anyone  should 
expect  the  editor  of  a  daily  paper  to  answer  the  question,  but 
the  asking  indicates  at  once  the  opportunity  to  perform  public 
service  through  the  medium  of  the  daily  papers. 

Here  was  an  opportunity  for  the  Publicity  Committee.  It 
accordingly  asked  the  president  of  the  society  to  prepare  an 
article  in  answer  to  the  question  to  be  offered  to  the  editor 
of  one  of  our  papers.  The  editor  liked  the  idea  so  well 
that  he  called  for  more  and  the  series  grew  until  there  were 
fourteen  articles.  These  articles  with  a  few  on  the  branches 
not  treated  in  the  Cleveland  series  appeared  in  book  form 
with  the  title,  "Engineering  as  a  Career." 


i 


1  i 


i 


LOCAL  HAPPENINGS 

Local  Men  Will  be  Prominent  in  A.  R.  E.  A.  Meeting 

and  most  of  the  other  clippings  in  the  upper  left  quarter  of 
the  illustration  appeared  in  the  section  of  our  papers  devoted 
to  railroads.  The  longest  article  is  signed  by  the  railroad 
editor,  and  the  text  is  verbatim  as  we  prepared  it. 

Railroad  Engineers  Conclude  Convention  was  a 
telegraphic  report  sent  from  Chicago,  press  rates  collect,  to 
the  Cleveland  papers  after  one  of  the  railroad  editors  had 
suggested  that  we  report  the  convention  in  this  manner. 


May  Be  Chief  Engineer  of  Alaska  Railroads.  When 
Hunter  McDonald,  then  president  of  the  A.  S.  C.  E.,  was 
being  mentioned  as  possible  head  of  the  construction  forces 
for  the  Government's  Alaskan  railroad,  an  excellent  "news 
peg"  was  at  hand  on  which  to  hang  quite  a  story  about  the 
A.  R.  E.  A.  and  A.  S.  C.  E. 

Favors  Unit  Plan  of  Concrete  Work.  Here  again  are 
shown  advance  notices  appearing  on  Monday  preceding  the 
meeting  and  a  write-up  of  the  lecture  appearing  on  the  Sun- 
day following.  The  section  of  the  Sunday  paper  in  which 
this  story  appeared  went  to  press  on  Friday  night.  In  this 
instance  copy  was  handled  by  the  real  estate  editor  who  was 
also  movie  editor,  although  the  duties  of  either  job  would 
keep  one  man  comfortably  busy.  Copy  presenting  recent 
development  in  building  construction  eased  the  labors  of  the 
real  estate  editor  and  was  given  a  hearty  welcome  by  him. 

Weather  Prophet's  Secrets  Disclosed.  Weather  Mixer 
Joins  Engineers.  Shortly  after  the  new  weather  fore- 
caster took  up  his  work  in  Cleveland,  he  became  a  member 
of  the  Engineering  Society.  It  was  quite  proper  that  both 
the  man  and  his  lecture  on  the  "U.  S.  Weather  Bureau  and 
Its  Work"  should  be  given  some  publicity,  introducing  him 
to  the  community.  Cleveland  is  in  a  district  subject  to  so 
many  and  sudden  changes  of  weather  that  the  lot  of  the 
weather  man  is  a  precarious  one  and  at  best  many  of  our 
worthy  citizens  would  greet  him  with  a  hatchet. 

The  two  clippings  to  the  upper  left  in  this  group  are  the 
advance  notices.  When  we  came  to  write  the  one  which  is 
straight  reading  matter,  we  got  down  our  cyclopedia  and 
discovered  some  interesting  things,  one  of  which  was  that 
a  Clevelander  while  in  Congress  had  a  hand  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Weather  Bureau.  This,  and  several  other  inter- 
esting points,  were  ancient  history,  unless  there  could  be 
found  a  "news  peg"  to  hang  them  on,  that  is,  to  justify 
them.  The  new  weather  man  and  his  lecture  was  the  peg. 


Burrowing  Under  the  Lake 


DEPARTMENT  FEATURE  ARTICLES 

How  Science  Harnesses  Sound.  So  many  great  audi- 
toriums have  been  acoustic  failures  that  it  is  popularly  sup- 
posed audibility  is  beyond  the  ken  of  science.  When  Dr. 
Dayton  C.  Miller,  a  recognized  authority  on  sound,  after 
Cleveland  had  voted  $2,500,000  for  a  municipal  auditorium, 
told  us  that  the  behavior  of  sound  could  be  known  accurately 
in  any  building  as  soon  as  the  plans  were  drawn  and  before 
a  building  stone  was  laid,  it  became  our  public  duty  to  voice 
the  demand  that  an  acoustic  expert  be  consulted  in  the  design 
of  this  great  auditorium. 

How  Your  Street  Should  Be  Paved.  This  article  had 
as  its  primary  purpose  to  tell  the  voting  public  the  advantage 
to  the  city  from  the  passage  of  a  three  million  dollar  bond 
issue  to  be  voted  on  at  a  forthcoming  election.  It  carried. 

Burrowing  Under  the  Lake.  There  is  a  world  of 
romance,  adventure,  and  danger  in  digging  a  7-foot  brick 
tunnel  extending  7,500  feet  under  the  lake  through  clay  con- 
taining gas  pockets  in  order  to  bring  potable  water  to  a 
thirsty  city.  No  soldier  of  fortune  on  the  frontier  of  civili- 
zation must  be  more  alert  than  the  driver  of  the  two-foot 
gauge  locomotive  propelled  by  1,200  pounds  air  pressure  in 
its  massively-plated  tank.  Shirking  responsibility  would 
insure  his  attendance  at  his  own  funeral.  The  appeal  of  such 
a  story  is  universal. 


flow  'Gvmrns  PICK  OUT  THEIP 
^  THOUGH  IAB  A 


FEATURING  A  TECHNICAL  SUBJECT 

ANY  plan  for  publicity  by  engineers  must  be  based  on  a 
systematic  scheme  to  educate  the  public,  and  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  engineer,  the  public  includes  the  men  who 
make  the  newspapers. 


S^WESTG  ADAILBOAD 


Engineers  Solve  Difficult  Problem  When 
They  Halt  Earth  Slide  by  Blowing 
Up  Stratum  Which  Insists  on  Slipping 


SOLVING  UNUSUAL  PROBLEMS 

THE  ability  to  meet  new  conditions  with  new  methods  is 
an    ordinary    attribute    of    the    engineer.     This    article 
describes  how  a  railroad  engineer  stopped  an  earth  slide  by 
blowing  up  the  stone  under  sliding  earth. 


GENERAL  NEWS  ARTICLES 

Cleveland  Engineers  for  Peace.  The  Good  Will  num- 
ber of  the  Journal  of  the  Society  is  an  argument  for  univer- 
sal peace,  but  makes  no  reference  to  the  great  cataclysm 
in  Europe.  It  is  based  on  the  idea  that  modern  war  is  a 
mathematically  scientific  game,  played  with  deadly  machines 
evolved  by  the  engineer.  With  the  same  scientific  princi- 
ples in  mind,  if  the  efforts  spent  in  war  were  turned  to  the 
work  of  peace — in  peaceful  rivalry  instead  of  destruction — 
a  tremendous  advance  in  human  welfare  would  be  the  result. 
The  Publicity  Committee  sent  copies  of  the  Good  Will 
Journal  over  the  country,  wrote  reviews  of  it  for  periodi- 
cals and  distributed  several  hundred  copies  to  citizens  of 
Cleveland,  and  placed  them  in  downtown  offices  of  physicians 
and  dentists,  libraries  and  the  like,  where  they  would  be  read 
by  many  people.  The  review  was  published  verbatim  as  the 
committee  prepared  it. 


Engineers    are    the    Men    Who    Make    Dreams    Real. 

This  article  was  suggested  by  the  publicity  committee  to  one 
of  the  sub-editors  who  was  charged  with  writing  an  inter- 
esting story  for  each  Sunday.  Naturally,  the  most  difficult 
part  of  his  task  was  to  find  a  subject  and  material.  We 
arranged  for  an  interview  with  an  engineer  who  could  talk 
in  an  interesting  manner  to  a  reporter.  The  definition  of 
"engineer"  the  newspaper  evolved  is  rather  apt.  "An  engineer 
is  a  man  who  somehow,  some  way,  tames  the  forces  of  na- 
ture, helped  by  science,  and  makes  them  do  man's  bidding." 

Electrified  Railroads  Bound  to  Come  in  Time.     At  a 

time  when  the  electrification  of  railroads  entering  Cleveland 
was  being  agitated,  the  engineering  society  invited  N.  M. 
Storer,  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, to  lecture  on  the  subject.  The  meeting  was  held  at 
Case  School  and  was  attended  by  several  of  the  city  officials. 
The  clippings  are  the  advance  notice  and  abstract  of  the 
lecture  appearing  on  the  Sunday  following. 

Engineers  See  Wonders  of  the  Press  Plant.  On  Tues- 
day evening,  our  regular  meeting  night,  we  had  three  news- 
paper men  tell  us  about  the  making  of  a  newspaper.  One 
spoke  from  the  standpoint  of  the  editor,  a  second  about  the 
business  and  advertising  end,  and  a  third,  a  member  of  our 
society,  gave  the  principal  address  which  was  devoted  to  the 
power  presses  and  other  machinery  of  a  newspaper  plant. 
On  the  following  Saturday  afternoon  we  visited  the  three 
plants  in  the  city,  each  within  a  few  minutes'  walk  of  the 
others..  The  Press  took  our  pictures  just  after  we  had 
started  through  the  building  and  in  forty-two  minutes  had 
the  paper  printed  ready  to  hand  to  us  as  we  left. 

U.  S.  Engineer  Speaks  Friday.  Of  the  two  talks  men- 
tioned in  this  notice,  the  efforts  of  the  Publicity  Commit- 
tee were  directed  to  making  the  one  at  Ep worth  Memorial 
Church  on  Sunday  night  a  success.  We  had  notices  posted 
on  the  bulletin  boards  of  various  civic  organizations  and  had 
announcements  made  where  practicable.  We  were  gratified 
to  see  an  attendance  of  several  hundred  on  an  especially  in- 
clement Sunday  night. 

Engineers  to  See  Pittsburgh  Plants.  A  very  pleasant 
and  profitable  custom  of  visiting  back  and  forth  has  grown 
up  between  the  engineering  societies  of  Pittsburgh,  Buffalo, 
Detroit,  and  Cleveland.  I  am  inclined  to  place  greater  value 
on  the  social  and  good  fellowship  part  of  these  programs 
than  on  the  professional  benefit  gained  from  visiting  plants 
in  other  cities,  large  as  that  may  be.  Trips  by  boat  are 
effective  in  getting  members  acquainted  with  each  other,  out 
of  which  grows  a  common  interest. 


Will  Show  Lightning's  Fury  was  part  of  an  advance 
notice  of  a  popular  lecture  in  East  Technical  High  School 
by  E.  F.  Creighton,  consulting  engineer  of  the  General 
Electric  Company.  When  we  gave  a  duplicate  of  this  pic- 
ture to  one  of  the  papers,  the  city  editor  said  it  wouldn't 
justify  reproduction.  He  said  it  was  too  black.  When  we 
showed  the  picture  to  the  competing  paper,  we  mentioned 
diplomatically  that  the  editor  of  the  other  paper  was  afraid 
there  wasn't  enough  contrast.  The  editor  being  addressed 
said,  "Let  us  try  it."  The  graphic  quality  of  the  notice 
without  the  picture  needs  no  comment. 

Yale  Summons  Local  Engineer  is  a  notice  that  one  of 
our  distinguished  members  was  to  give  his  lecture  on  "En- 
gineering of  Men"  at  Yale.  Below  that  is  an  item  informing 
the  public  that  former  Senator  Burton  has  given  his  library 
of  river  and  harbor  literature  to  the  local  society.  Next  is 
an  item  telling  of  an  event  in  our  chess  club  when  seventeen 
of  its  members  were  pitted  at  one  time  against  a  well  known 
champion. 

Cable  Long  Used  Bears  300  Tons  is  an  account  sent 
to  us  by  one  of  our  advertisers  in  the  Journal.  It  is  a  legit- 
imate news  item  and  good  publicity  for  our  advertisers  and 
properly  falls  in  the  scope  of  our  Publicity  Commitee's  work. 

Bridge  Foundations  a  Mighty  Problem  properly  may 
be  classified  as  service  to  the  community.  The  building  of 
the  foundations  of  a  great  high-level  bridge,  the  main  artery 
between  two  parts  of  the  city,  gave  rise  to  a  lively  con- 
troversy as  to  their  safety.  The  public  had  a  right  to  know 
the  truth.  The  county  bridge  engineer  was  asked  to  read  a 
paper  before  the  society  describing  the  foundations ;  his  paper 
was  abstracted  with  technicalities  omitted  or  so  worded  as 
to  be  understood  by  the  reader  of  average  education,  and 
published  in  one  of  the  papers  on  the  Sunday  following  the 
meeting. 

Producer  Gas  to  Eliminate  Smoke  and  Save  Fuel. 
Here  are  shown  an  advance  notice  of  the  meeting  and  an  ab- 
stract of  Dr.  Fernald's  paper  as  it  appeared  on  the  Sunday 
following  the  meeting.  Dr.  Fernald  was  pilot  of  the  Cleve- 
land Engineering  Society  when  its  course  was  changed  from 
a  jack-in-the-box  mutual  admiration  society  to  a  wide-awake 
civic  and  professional  organization. 


TYPICAL  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  159 

Developing  a  Local  Engineering  Society 

The  editors  at  the  head  of  the  several  newspaper 
departments,  real  estate,  railroad,  finance,  marine, 
Sunday,  each  have  different  needs  which  vary  some- 
what with  each  paper,  said  C.  E.  Drayer,  formerly 
secretary  of  the  Cleveland  Engineering  Society,  in 
a  talk  before  the  Engineers'  Club  of  Philadelphia. 
For  instance,  the  real  estate  editor  on  one  paper 
was  also  movie  editor,  and  the  railroad  editor  of 
another  wrote  Sunday  copy  on  minor  theatricals. 
Gradually  the  special  needs  of  the  several  depart- 
ments may  be  learned  and  material  supplied  accord- 
ingly. To  illustrate,  the  railroad  editor  has  Sunday 
off,  yet  Monday  column  must  be  filled.  That  is,  on 
Saturday  he  must  do  two  days'  work  for  Sunday 
and  Monday.  News  that  can  be  held  for  Monday 
will  be  invariably  welcomed  by  him. 

When  we  started  publicity  work,  we  interviewed 
the  managing  editor  of  one  of  the  papers  who  was 
an  acquaintance.  By  going  to  the  editor  and  talk- 
ing over  the  idea  of  a  story,  we  not  only  obtained 
the  benefit  of  his  council  but  we  learned  that  when 
he  had  approved  the  central  idea  and  helped  in  its 
development,  copy  of  that  story  was  in  a  way  to 
succeed  even  against  scarehead  competition.  When 
one  article  is  handed  in  it  is  well  to  have  the  idea 
of  another  or  two  to  submit  for  opinion  and  thus 
avoid  the  noticed  effort  to  see  a  busy  editor,  or 
the  chagrin  of  an  unsuccessful  call. 

Study  the  style  of  the  papers.  To  get  the  style, 
let  the  writer  clip  a  few  articles  that  seem  especially 
good  and  have  them  before  him  while  he  prepares 


160  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

his  copy  until  the  style  comes.  Get  a  good  first 
sentence  of  "lead"  to  attract  attention  and  guide 
the  reader  into  the  story.  Particularly  in  advance 
notices,  aim  to  answer  the  questions,  what,  when, 
where,  in  the  first  sentence.  Writing  of  head  lines 
may  best  be  left  to  the  practiced  newspaper  man. 

It  would  be  much  better  to  have  nothing  in  the 
paper  because  of  inability  to  prepare  copy  suitably 
than  to  have  it  refused.  Lots  of  material  is  offered 
to  the  papers  in  form  unsuitable  for  publication  and, 
unless  it  possesses  unusual  news  value,  it  goes  into 
the  waste  basket.  All  copy  should  be  typewritten 
and  clear,  for  time  is  a  vital  element  in  getting  out 
a  paper. 

To  summarize,  the  successful  preparation  and 
placing  of  copy  depends  upon  three  things:  (i) 
news  merit,  (2)  acquaintance  with  the  editorial 
staff,  (3)  an  understanding  of  the  problems  of  news- 
paper making. 

Now  to  find  the  man  with  a  "nose  for  news." 
The  ability  to  pen  expressions  that  fit  the  average 
mind  will  come  with  practice  and  a  study  of 
psychology,  just  as  the  ability  to  design  comes  with 
practice  and  a  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  mechanics. 
Of  course,  aptitude  varies  in  one  as  in  the  other,  but 
what  is  essential  is  an  abundance  of  faith  in  the 
cause. 

There  are  certain  definite  perquisites  of  publicity 
which  accrue  to  those  undertaking  the  work.  Of 
these  perhaps  the  most  valuable  to  the  individual  is 
the  opportunity  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
leaders  in  the  profession  and  to  become  a  dynamic 


TYPICAL  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  161 

force  among  one's  associates  and  in  the  community. 
The  call  of  your  society  is  for  those  able  to  do  use- 
ful work  for  it. 

Another  advantage  to  those  who  tell  about  what 
others  are  doing  is  found  in  the  broadening  of  the 
knowledge  of  him  who  tells  the  story,  for  to  write 
about  a  technical  subject  so  that  it  interests  the 
least  educated  as  well  as  the  most  educated  in  the 
community,  requires  that  there  be  no  haziness  in 
the  mind  of  the  writer.  To  the  man  who  is  looking 
forward  and  not  back,  who  has  the  spirit  of  service 
to  those  in  the  profession  and  to  the  entire  com- 
munity, here  is  an  opportunity  of  wonderful  possi- 
bilities. Examples  of  such  work  in  the  Cleveland 
Engineering  Society  are  illustrated  on  other  pages. 

There  are  several  ways  that  may  be  used  by  en- 
gineers to  educate  the  public  besides  the  public 
press  where  an  unsympathetic  editor  may  inhibit 
our  efforts. 

We  planned  in  Cleveland  to  enlist  a  few  of  our 
younger  engineers  to  give  illustrated  lectures  on 
engineering  subjects  before  small  gatherings  in 
churches,  schools,  libraries  and  the  like.  It  is  hoped 
that  a  sympathetic  understanding  of  engineering 
knowledge  and  skill  can  be  brought  about  more 
quickly  by  a  personal  contact  of  this  sort.  In  addi- 
tion, the  speakers  will  gradually  acquire  by  practice 
that  facility  of  expressing  on  their  feet  which  is 
necessary  in  order  that  we  may  argue  on  equal 
footing  before  legislative  bodies  or  large  gather- 
ings of  citizens  subjects  in  dispute. 


ILLUSTRATED  LECTURE 


BY 


CAPT.  J.  MILTON  STATE 


UNDER  AUSPICES  OF  PONTIAC  CHAPTER 

AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  OF 

ENGINEERS 


HIGH  SCHOOL  AUDITORIUM 

APRIL  14,  1922 

8*OO  P.  M. 


Front  cover  of  a  four-page  folder  used  to  advertise  a  chapter 

lecture. 


APPENDIX  I 

SOME  APPROXIMATE  ESTIMATING  COSTS 

The  costs  given  below  are  those  existing  in  Chicago, 
Illinois,  in  January,  1922;  they  are  approximate  and 
should  only  be  used  for  rough  estimating. 

Addressing  and  Typewriting  Costs 

Per         Per 

100  1000 

*Envelopes  addressed,  pen $  .75  $5.00 

Additional  lines,  pen 25  i.oo 

*Envelopes  addressed,  typewriter. ..  i.oo  7.00 

Additional  lines,  typewriter 25  •  1.50 

Filling  in — i  line,  name  only 75  5.00 

2  Lines,  name,  town  and  state....  i.oo  7.00 

Additional  lines  }. ., 25  1.50 

Addressograph  addressing 40  3.00 

Signatures  signed  with  pen 45  3.00 

Signatures  printed  (500,  $1.50) 2.50 

Folding  and  Mailing 

Per         Per 

IOO  IOOO 

Fold,  enclose  and  seal  circulars.  ..$     .40  $2.50 

Fold,  enclose,  seal  "filled  in"  letter     .50  3.00 

Folding  letters,  per  fold 10  .50 

Machine   folding    (Min.   $1.00) .75 

Stamping  and  mailing 15  i.oo 

*  Price  includes  prefix,  name,  town,  state,  and  street  or  rural 
address  where  given  from  legible  lists  without  selection.  Ad- 
ditional charge  where  more  than  usual  writing  is  required  and 
for  unusually  large  or  heavy  envelopes  and  printed  matter. 

163 


164          PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

Enclosures    10  .50 

Typewriter  ribbon  to  match .75 

Multigraphing 

(Imitation  Typewriting) 

Copies  25,  Lines  30  Lines  40  Lines 

250  $3-50  $4-00  $5.00 

500  4.00  4.50  5.50 

75°  4-50  5.00  6.00 

1,000  5.00  5.50  6.50 

Additional  copies  at  $2.50  per  1000. 
Add  loc  per  line  for  composition  in  excess  of  40 
lines. 

Mimeographing 

(Improved  Dermatype  Process) 

Copies  25  Lines  40  Lines  60  Lines 

loo  $1.25  $1.50  $1.75 

250  1.50  1.75  2.00 

500  1.75  2.00  2.35 

1,000  2.50  2.85  3.25 

Additional  copies  at  $1.50  per  1000. 


Price  List  for  Printing 

The  Printers  Exchange  believes  in  standard  price 
lists,  and  recommends  to  every  printer  that  he  buy  and 
study  the  one  most  used  in  his  locality.  But  many 
of  the  smaller  shops  do  not  feel  that  they  can  afford 
to  pay  for  regular  expert  service. 

100  250  500  1,000  2,000  5,000  10,000 
N.  H.,  Memos, 

Stat'ts  $2  per  •"  i 

M  $3.25  $4.00  $5.00  $7.00  $1075  $21.00  $36.00 

Letter  Heads, 

$2.50  per  M..  4.00  .5.00  6.50  9.50  15.00  31.00  54.25 

Envelopes,  $2.50  •  •» 

per  M   2.00     2.75     4.25     7.00     12.00     26.25     48.75 


APPROXIMATE  COSTS  FOR  ESTIMATING          165 
Business   Cards, 

perkMS'.$2...     2.25     3.00     4.25     675     11.00  '  23.75     42.75 
Window  Cards,  '  ' 

Hangers,  etc., 

$2.50  per  C..    10.25    15.00  29.25   52.00 
Hand  Bills,  6x9, 

print  paper  .  3.00  3.50  4.25  5.50  8.25  14.00  20.75 
Sale  Bills,  11x16, 

print  paper  .  4.75  5.50  6.75  9.00  13.25  25.75  43.25 
Folders,  4  pg., 

No.  1   12.15   13.25   15.25   18.75     23.75     38.50     61.75 

Folders,  4  pg., 

N.o.  2  20.40  22.00  24.75  28.75     36.00     56.50     87.75 

All  the  above  are  priced  for  the  usual  amount  of 
work.  When  copy  is  unusually  easy  or  compli- 
cated, additions  or  reductions  should  take  into  account 
composition  only. 

Note    Heads,    Memos,    Statements,    may    all    be 
figured  practically  the  same,  only  taking  into  account 
the  difference  in  the  cost  of  stock. 
Envelopes,  all  sizes  up  to  No.  10  may  be  figured  alike, 

taking  into  account  difference  in  cost  of  stock. 
Cards  and  Tickets,  up  to  size  36,  and  including  call- 
ing cards,  may  be  figured  the  same,  considering 
cost  of  stock. 

Window  Cards,  Hangers,  are  based  on  the  cost 
price  of  $2.50  per  hundred  (about  the  cost  of  6-ply 
quarter  sheets.)  For  25  of  them  charge  $5.70; 
for  50,  $7.20. 

Folders,  No.  i,  refers  to  size  suitable  to  use  in  6^4 
envelopes,  and  No.  2  is  size  for  No.  10  Envelopes. 

Estimating 

The  above  list  of  prices  may  be  used  for  almost  any 
kind  of  work  coming  into  the  average  printshop  by 
applying  the  following  suggestions  in  estimating 
variations : 


166  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

Stock.  Do  not  figure  cost  of  stock  at  the  supply 
house.  Add  the  cost  for  freight  and  drayage.  When 
you  estimate  all  the  items  in  making  a  price,  allow 
20  per  cent  for  handling,  spoilage,  etc.,  but  do  not 
add  this  to  the  cost  price  in  using  above  table,  as 
it  is  considered  in  the  table.  It  is  a  good  plan  to  add 
freight  and  drayage  when  you  mark  stock,  so  that 
"cost"  includes  them,  as  it  should. 

In  estimating  prices  per  hour,  figure  hand  composi- 
tion at  $3.00  per  hour;  machine  composition,  $4.00  per 
hour;  platen  press,  up  to  10x15,  $2.50  per  hour;  I2x 
18  and  larger,  $3.00  per  hour;  cylinder  press,  $4.50 
per  hour.  These  are  selling  prices,  not  cost.  Of 
course  these  figures  are  based  upon  efficient  work.  If 
you  have  cheap  blundering  help,  your  customer  should 
not  pay  these  prices.  On  the  other  hand,  absolutely 
perfect  work  without  delays  or  accidents  is  unattain- 
able, and  you  cannot  figure  upon  the  expectation  that 
every  job  will  be  completed  in  the  minimum  time, 
without  mistakes.  These  prices  are  based  upon  fairly 
competent  and  careful  workmanship,  with  about  the 
usual  loss  of  time  and  material  from  unavoidable  ac- 
cidents, mistakes,  and  delays. 

THE  PRINTERS  EXCHANGE, 

Ottawa,  Kansas. 


APPENDIX  II 


A  Brief  Outline  of  a  Working 
Plan  for 

Public  Information 

to  Broaden  the  Field  of  Engineering  Work 

together  with 

Suggestions  and  a  One- Year  Working  Plan 

for 

PUBLIC  INFORMATION  WORK 

by  the 
AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  OF  ENGINEERS 


A  Report  to  the 
ADVISORY  BOARD  OF  PROFESSIONAL  ENGINEER 

Prepared  by 

CHARLES  R.  THOMAS 
in  charge  of   Public  Information 


AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  OF  ENGINEERS 

63   East  Adams  Street,   Chicago 

November,   1921 


168          PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

Summary  of  Plans 

1.  A  Bureau  of  Public  Information  is  to  be  es- 
tablished   by    the    Association    and    the    chapters 
asked  to  participate  in  a  systematic  program  of 
public  information  for  the  advancement  of  the  en- 
gineering profession. 

2.  A  limited  number  of  subjects  for  concerted 
publicity  are  to  be  selected.     Members  of  the  As- 
sociation will  participate  by  delivering  addresses, 
preparing  articles,  and  similar  work. 

3.  The  cost  of  initiating  this  plan  is  estimated  at 
$7,500  for  the  first  year. 

Working  Plan  for  Publicity 

The  purpose  of  this  report  is  to: 

1.  Present  a  clear  analysis  of  the  purpose  and 
aims  of  engineering  publicity  and  to  show  the  re- 
lation of  such  publicity  to  the  main  objects  of  the 
American  Association  of  Engineers. 

2.  To  provide  suggestions  which  can  be  used  as 
a  guide  by  the  Association  in  outlining  a  publicity 
program  and  to  discuss  methods    by    which    in- 
creased and  better  publicity  leading  to  the  advance- 
ment of  the  profession  may  be  obtained,  and  also 
suggestions  as  to  how    undesirable    publicity    or 
publicity  that  savors  of  notoriety  may  be  avoided. 

3.  To  present  a  general  working  plan  for  a  pub- 
licity campaign  to  extend  over  a  period  of  one  year 
to  the  end 

(a)  That    the   field    for   engineering   work   may   be 
broadened ; 


A  WORKING  PLAN  169 

(b)  That  the  public  may  be  supplied  with  accurate 
information  at   all  times   about  the   ideals   and 
principles  of  the  engineering  profession; 

(c)  To  bring  about  the  constructive  development  of 
the  Association  by  extending  the  knowledge  of 
the  principles  of  the  Association  into  new  com- 
munities;   and   to    correct    wrong    impressions 
about  the  Association. 


BROADENING  THE  FIELD  OF  ENGINEERING  WORK 
Statement   of   Problems 

The  conditions  that  have  existed  for  the  past  ten 
years  demonstrate  the  need  for  broad  general  pub- 
licity work  on  the  part  of  engineers.  The  follow- 
ing truths  are  self-evident : 

First.  There  are  more  engineers  in  the  United 
States  than  there  is  engineering  work  in  the  sense 
that  engineering  work  is  commonly  accepted.  There- 
fore engineers  are  frequently  unemployed.  The  solu- 
tion is  to  so  broaden  the  field  of  professional  engi- 
neers that  their  training  will  be  available  in  many 
other  kinds  of  work. 

Second.  Engineers  as  a  profession  have  been  more 
interested  in  the  technical  side  of  their  profession 
than  they  have  in  the  human  side  or  in  their  rela- 
tions to  other  men,  commonly  known  as  the  busi- 
ness side  of  the  profession.  Professional  work  is 
no  mystery  and  it  is  probable  that  engineers  will  not 
change  much.  But  it  behooves  the  profession  as  a 
whole  to  broaden  its  confines  and  to  extend  the  field 
of  operation  for  the  members  who  follow  it  for  a 
livelihood. 

Third.  As  a  result  of  the  conditions  above  stated 
engineers  have  been  exploited.  That  is  to  say  they 


170          PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

have  worked  for  less  pay  than  they  should  work  for, 
considering  the  value  of  the  work  that  they  do.  This 
condition  is  of  course  temporary.  Twenty  years  ago 
the  engineering  profession  was  one  of  the  best  paid 
professions,  but  since  then  the  number  of  engineers 
has  increased  out  of  proportion  to  the  scope  of  engi- 
neering activities.  The  real  answer  is :  either  decrease 
the  number  of  engineers  or  increase  their  field  of 
operation.  The  latter  course  is  preferable.  The  late 
war  gave  a  great  impetus  to  broadening  the  field  for 
engineers.  We  must  continue  this  movement  and 
perfect  it.  This  is  one  of  the  big  objects  of  Pro- 
fessional Engineer  and  it  is  working  to  that  end  con- 
tinuously. 

Fourth.  There  is  a  lack  of  systematized  and  co- 
ordinated effort  in  informing  the  public  about  engi- 
neers. This  lack  of  co-ordination  the  Association  has 
attempted  to  correct.  Every  man  in  the  American  As- 
sociation of  Engineers  should  be  a  publicity  man  for 
engineering  as  a  profession.  There  is,  however,  a  lack 
of  co-ordination  of  the  work  of  the  Association  with 
that  of  the  older  and  wealthier  organizations.  We 
should  strive  to  correct  this  defect  and  interest  them 
in  the  work  we  are  doing. 

The  purpose  of  a  publicity  plan  for  the  Associa- 
tion must  be  first,  to  improve  the  social  and  eco- 
nomic welfare  of  engineers ;  second,  to  stabilize  the 
ethical  standards  of  professional  engineers  and  tp 
increase  the  usefulness  of  the  engineer  to  the  pub- 
lic. These  are  the  basic  objects  of  the  Association. 
To  accomplish  these  ends  it  is  necessary  to  consider 
the  welfare  and  the  accomplishments  of  engineers 
as  a  product  which  must  be  sold  to  the  greatest 
possible  number  of  people,  the  idea  being  not  to 
derive  any  direct  profit  but  rather  to  acquaint  the 


A  WORKING  PLAN  171 

public  as  a  whole  with  the  work  of  engineers. 
There  are  110,000,000  people  in  the  United  States 
and  200,000  of  them  are  engineers.  Our  object  is 
to  make  every  one  of  the  110,000,000  familiar 
with  the  constructive  work  that  engineers  are  do- 
ing or  are  capable  of  doing.  The  accomplishment 
of  this  purpose  is  not  a  matter  of  mystery;  there 
is  no  mystery  about  modern  methods  of  publicity 
and  advertising.  Such  work  has  been  accomplished 
for  organizations  similar  to  the  American  Associa- 
tion of  Engineers,  including  the  Red  Cross,  The 
American  Legion,  the  Rotary  International,  and 
many  other  large  organizations  of  the  country. 

The  Ultimate  Objective 

The  ultimate  objective  of  publicity  work  for  the 
Association  is  an  ideal — the  development  of  engi- 
neers to  the  point  of  highest  public  usefulness.  We 
can  never  become  perfect,  but  we  have  a  long 
way  to  go  before  we  begin  to  reach  the  limits  of 
practical  publicity  approaching  this  ideal,  which  is 
summed  up  so  concisely  in  the  objects  of  the  As- 
sociation as  stated  in  its  Constitution.  It  is  read- 
ily seen,  therefore,  that  it  is  not  the  work  of  one 
year  or  ten  years.  Any  publicity  campaign  must 
contemplate  a  graduated  process  of  public  educa- 
tion, and  we  should  select  immediately  those  things 
which  are  most  pregnant  and  develop  others  as 
we  get  results  from  those  first  selected.  The  task 
is  not  a  small  one  but  the  object  is  worthy  of  our 
highest  efforts. 


172  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

How   PUBLIC   INFORMATION   MAY   BE   DEVELOPED 

Publicity  Defined 

Engineering  publicity  is  considered  in  two  broad 
divisions :  Publicity  or  public  education  about  engi- 
neering work  in  general,  and  publicity  or  public 
education  about  the  work  and  aims  of  the  Amer- 
ican Association  of  Engineers. 

Publicity  about  engineering  work  includes  the 
presentation  through  newspapers,  magazines,  pub- 
lic addresses,  motion  pictures,  signboards,  etc.,  of 
information  concerning  the  work  of  all  engineers, 
using  the  language  of  that  portion  of  the  public 
which  is  addressed.  The  object  of  such  publicity 
is  to  broaden  the  field  of  engineering  service. 

Publicity  about  the  American  Association  of 
Engineers  includes  the  supplying  of  information 
through  dignified  and  acceptable  channels  of  pub- 
licity about  the  work  and  aims  of  the  Association 
to  the  end  that  the  influence  of  the  organization 
may  be  increased  and  that  good  will  may  be  created 
toward  the  Association  in  the  minds  of  all  engi- 
neers and  the  public  in  general. 

These  two  broad  classifications  of  publicity  work 
are  recognized  in  the  rules  for  the  publicity  con- 
test for  1922,  as  stated  in  the  September,  1921,  issue 
of  Professional  Engineer  as  follows : 

"Publicity  must  contain  the  words  'professional 
engineer'  or  the  words  'American  Association  of 
Engineers' " 


A  WORKING  PLAN  173 

It  is  believed  that  all  Association  publicity  should 
be  subject  to  the  broad  test  of  improving  the  so- 
cial and  economic  welfare  of  engineers  and  improv- 
ing the  status  of  the  engineers  from  an  ethical 
standpoint,  for  thereby  the  public  is  benefited — 
does  the  proposed  publicity  make  the  engineering 
profession  more  worth  while  to  the  public. 

It  is  believed  that  a  general  plan  of  multiplying 
news  sources  should  be  followed  with  the  greatest 
possible    freedom   from   censorship.      Sincerity   of 
purpose  will  rise  above  the  small  errors  of  judg- 
ment that  might  be  eliminated  through  censorship. 
As  a  by-product  of  this  broad  plan  for  helping 
engineers  we  shall  be  able  to  benefit  the  Associa- 
tion.    The  growth  of  the  Association  in  the  past 
six  years  has  been  rapid  and  many  engineers  have 
wondered  and  inquired  what  the  Association  was 
and  what  it  was  seeking  to  do.    They  have  asked 
questions  about  the  Association.     Is  it  seeking  to 
dominate  the  engineering  profession?    Is  it  trying 
to   displace   the   older   technical   societies?     Is   it 
composed  principally  of  young  and  untried  engi- 
neers who  are  seeking  to  form  a  union  to  get  their 
pay  raised?    Is  there  any  reason  for  the  existence 
of  such  an  organization  in  view  of  the  number  of 
engineering  societies  already  in  existence?     What 
are  the  relations  of  the  Association  to  the  Engi- 
neering Council?    Where  are  its  members  located, 
and  what  have  they  done?    In  short,  what  are  the 
motives  behind  the  formation  of  the  American  As- 
sociation of  Engineers  and  what  reason  has  it  for 
existence — what  has  it  accomplished? 


174  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

The  answer  to  all  of  these  questions  may  be 
clear  in  the  miijds  of  members  of  the  Association, 
although  I  doubt  it  very  much.  It  is  almost  certain 
that  99  per  cent  of  the  110,000,000  people  in 
the  United  States  could  not  answer  one  of  the 
questions.  It  is  readily  seen  that  there  is  an  enor- 
mous field  for  educational  work,  and  since  the  As- 
sociation is  new  to  nearly  everyone  in  the  country 
it  is  easy  to  make  it  of  interest  to  them  through 
publicity,  because  what  is  new  is  essentially  the 
basis  of  news. 

But  any  publicity  and  benefit  to  the  Association 
as  an  organization  of  forward-looking  professional 
men  must  be  subordinated  to  a  larger  plan  of  help- 
ing all  engineers. 


Publicity  Must  Be  Continuous 

Publicity  to  be  effective  must  be  continuous. 
The  conviction  that  results  from  continued  pub- 
licity is  based  upon  repetition.  The  value  of 
cumulative  effect  of  continued  publicity  has  been 
firmly  established  through  the  experiences  of  many 
colleges,  associations,  and  business  institutions. 
Looking  at  publicity  from  a  business  standpoint 
it  is  necessary  to  lay  out  a  program  which  will 
extend  over  a  period  of  at  least  two  years;  a  period 
of  one  year  is  a  minimum. 

'  eiott&bc'aaA  sriJ  *o  lilwoi^  srft 

'  ^  * 


The  Market 
As  before  stated,  the  market  for  the  work  of 
engineers  includes  the  population  of  the  country  — 


A  WORKING  PLAN  175 

and  more  than  that  the  whole  world.  To  this 
market  the  work  of  engineers  must  be  sold  as  a 
commodity  and  a  favorable  mental  attitude  toward 
engineers  created. 

Competition 

It  must  be  remembered  that  engineering  is  not 
the  only  profession  interested  in  obtaining  the  sup- 
port of  the  public,  and  it  must  also  be  remembered 
that  within  the  engineering  profession  there  are 
numerous  organizations  each  seeking  to  advance 
the  interests  of  its  members.  It  should  be  the 
object  of  the  American  Association  of  Engineers 
to  co-operate  with  all  other  engineering  organiza- 
tions to  the  fullest  extent  where  the  interest  of  all 
engineers  is  concerned.  The  keynote  of  a  general 
campaign  should  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole 
engineering  profession,  of  which  the  American  As- 
sociation of  Engineers  is  a  typical  cross-section. 
The  Association  stands  as  a  great  democracy  of 
engineers  of  which  any  man  honorably  engaged  in 
professional  engineering  work  can  become  a  mem- 
ber, and  in  fact  should  be  a  supporter  whether  he 
is  a  member  of  the  Association  or  not.  All  that 
is  necessary  is  to  show  any  public-spirited  engineer 
that  an  organization  of  this  type  exists  and  he  will 
undoubtedly  give  it  his  support.  This  is  the  basis 
of  the  growth  of  the  Association  in  the  past  and  it 
must  continue  to  be  the  basis  for  its  development 
in  the  future.  ^^  ^ 

Plan  of  Publicity  Must  Be  Comprehensive 
Any  plan  of  publicity  must  be  complete.    It  must 


s 


tt 

f- 

u 


A  WORKING  PLAN  177 

include  all  the  commonly  accepted  means  of  pub- 
licity that  are  used  by  common-sense  men  in  such 
work.  Such  a  plan  must  contemplate  using  the 
three  broad  types  of  appeal: 

1.  The  appeal  to  the  eye. 

2.  The  appeal  to  the  ear. 

3.  The  appeal  of  the  printed  word. 

The  first  is  an  appeal  by  illustrations  and  pic- 
tures. The  second  is  an  appeal  by  the  spoken  word. 
The  third  is  through  the  printed  word. 

The  breadth  of  appeal  possible  is  shown  on  page 
42.  The  varied  types  of  appeal  are  given  on  page  69. 

Newspaper  and  Magazine  Publicity 

In  any  campaign  of  publicity  through  the  use  of 
the  printed  word  the  newspapers  represent  the  first 
wave  of  offense,  for  newspapers  carry  the  tidings 
of  the  day  and  stories  of  all  kinds  can  appear  in 
these  mediums.  The  second  wave  of  offense  in  the 
plan  of  public  education  are  the  popular  magazines. 
These  are  the  machine  guns  which  spray  concen- 
trated ideas  upon  the  public  in  such  a  way  that 
they  are  continually  hearing  about  engineers.  The 
third  wave  of  offense,  or  the  artillery,  are  our  tech- 
nical magazines  which  back  up  with  irrefutable 
facts  the  statements  that  are  made  through  the 
other  two  mediums. ,  Technical  magazines  stim- 
ulate engineers;  newspapers  and  general  maga- 
zines educate  the  public. 

For  these  reasons  anything  and  everything  can 
go  in  the  newspapers  which  are  used  to  create 


Functlondl  Plan. 
<for>  a. 

Public    Information    Buireciu, 


NATIONAL 
HEADQUARTERS 


ASSOCIATION 
ACTIVITIES' 


PROFESSIONAL 
ENGINEER 


PUBLIC  INFORMATION  BUREAU 


PRESS  I  |MEEnK6y|  |StBVlC£ 


PUBUC 


A  proposed  functional  organization  for  public  information  work  by 
the  American  Association  of  Engineers. 


A  WORKING  PLAN  179 

interest.  They  go  to  all  classes  of  people.  Every- 
body reads  newspapers.  It  is  believed  that  engin- 
eers more  than  any  other  class  of  professional  men 
have  neglected  the  use  of  newspapers  and  in  doing 
this  they  have  overlooked  probably  the  most  im- 
portant phase  of  publicity.  But  newspaper  infor- 
mation must  be  timely  and  must  be  of  general  in- 
terest, and  therefore  it  cannot  be  technical.  The 
ordinary  engineer,  some  say,  cannot  think  other- 
wise. It  is  believed  he  can.  It  is  largely  a  matter 
of  education  within  the  profession.  But  it  must 
be  emphasized  again  that  engineering  work  must 
not  be  portrayed  as  a  most  pleasant  sort  of  work 
but  rather  that  the  possibilities  of  engineering  are 
not  being  fully  utilized  in  other  lines  of  work. 
This  must  be  the  basis  of  effective  publicity.  En- 
gineering skill  is  a  product  that  must  be  sold  to 
a  great  many  people  who  at  present  do  not  utilize 
it  because  they  do  not  know  how  to  utilize  it.  That 
is  the  big  object  back  of  any  publicity  campaign. 
We  should  not  seek  publicity  for  engineers  as  a 
profession  but  rather  the  utilization  of  engineers  in  ad- 
vancing the  interest  of  other  people.  This  constitutes 
a  rather  radical  change  from  present  methods  but 
it  will  be  a  most  profitable  innovation. 


~—  j—  >    • 

J[     /   /  -Y 

t  Idea  Campaigns 


On  the  broad  general  principle  that  anything 
that  helps  the  building  up  of  the  country  helps 
engineers,  provided  it  is  along  the  lines  of  work 
which  engineers  can  handle  profitably,  support 


i8o  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

should  be  given  to  non-professional  campaigns, 
such  as  the  "Build  Now/'  "Save  the  Surface," 
"Fire  Protection,"  "Pave  the  Streets,"  and  "Own 
Your  Own  Home"  campaigns.  The  engineer  is  the 
logical  man  to  inaugurate  such  work  because  it  af- 
fects his  livelihood;  and  he  is  also  one  who  is 
trained  to  see  what  people  need  along  these  lines. 
The  recent  work  of  the  Missoula  Chapter  of  the 
Association,  which  won  the  publicity  prize  for  1921, 
is  characteristic  of  this  type  of  work.  This  Chapter 
held  an  Engineers'  Week  which  was  very  suc- 
cessful. The  Engineers'  Week  idea  is  probably  a 
little  too  direct;  I  think  it  better  to  emphasize  a 
more  general  idea  and  in  that  work  to  direct  atten- 
tion to  the  value  of  engineers  along  lines  in  which 
they  are  not  now  engaged. 

National  Advertising 

Advertising  campaigns  such  as  have  been  inau- 
gurated by  the  Association  of  Railway  Executives, 
the  American  Association  of  Engineers,  the  Red 
Cross,  and  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
are  valuable  and  effective,  but  they  are  very  ex- 
pensive. Some  paid  advertising,  however,  is  es- 
sential to  fill  in  between  human-interest  appeals 
in  the  editorial  columns  of  various  publications. 
The  weakness  of  publicity  work,  which  depends 
on  the  printed  word  and  the  whims  of  editors,  is 
that  there  are  periods  in  which  continuity  of  ap- 
peal is  lost.  These  periods  should  be  filled  in  by 
the  use  of  paid  advertising. 


A  WORKING  PLAN  181 

Use  of  Emblem 

A  suitable  emblem  is  essential  to  any  well-or- 
ganized plan  of  publicity.  In  this  we  have  the 
Monad  which  has  already  been  extensively  used 
by  the  Association.  As  a  first  step  the  use  of  the 
Monad  should  be  encouraged  and  brought  into 
vogue  in  as  many  ways  as  possible.  I  believe  that 
a  large  part  of  the  lasting  publicity  that  has  been 
obtained  by  the  Association  in  the  past  has  been 
due  to  the  very  effective  use  of  the  Monad  but 
much  more  can  be  accomplished.  Emblems 
become  indelibly  stamped  on  the  minds  where 
words  are  often  forgotten. 

A  slogan  is  also  suggested  for  use  by  the  As- 
sociation. 

Outdoor  Displays 

By  no  means  can  the  imagination  be  stimulated 
so  successfully  as  by  the  use  of  the  painted  sign, 
printed  poster,  or  picture  panel.  The  use  of  such 
displays  would  be  a  radical  departure  in  informa- 
tion work  of  engineers  or  any  profession,  but  I 
feel  sure  that  they  can  be  used  successfully.  We 
have  a  very  good  example  of  this  work  in  the  ef- 
fective Red  Cross  display  work.  A  plan  of  out- 
door displays  might  be  tried  out  in  a  selected  ter- 
ritory or  on  space  selected  along  railways  that  will 
reinforce  the  message  that  is  being  delivered 
through  other  public  information  mediums. 

The  use  of  outdoor  displays  by  Rotary  Clubs  is 
illustrated  on  page  30. 


182          PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

Direct  Advertising 

The  work  in  direct  advertising  consists  of  the 
preparation  and  distribution  of  printed  literature 
of  various  kinds  to  the  publicity  departments  of 
railroads,  public  utilities,  news  agencies,  large  ad- 
vertising agencies,  and  large  organizations  which 
are  interested  in  the  development  of  a  field  for  pro- 
fessional engineers. 

Pictures 

A  tremendous  audience  can  be  reached  through 
the  utilization  of  photographs  and  motion  pictures. 
Such  pictures  should  truthfully  portray  the  work 
of  engineers  and  give  due  credit  where  credit  is 
due.  This  means  co-operation  with  photographers 
and  motion  picture  producers  in  a  constructive  way 
and  also  a  certain  amount  of  censorship.  The 
Public  Information  Bureau  should  have  available 
a  duplicate  photograph  file  and  a  number  of  mo- 
tion picture  films  which  could  be  used  to  educate 
the  general  public  and  correct  mistaken  impres- 
sions as  to  the  type  of  work  engineers  do.  The 
information  bureau  might  also  became  a  producer 
of  certain  motion  pictures  and  furnish  films  to 
educational  institutions  and  vocational  schools. 
Such  pictures  should  not  show  engineers  as  people 
who  are  most  fortunate  individuals  but  rather  the 
various  kinds  of  work  done  by  engineers  and  what 
can  be  accomplished  by  engineers. 

Members  should  contribute  interesting  photo- 
graphs of  engineering  work  to  help  build  this  file. 


A  WORKING  PLAN  183 

Bulletins  and  Books 

Bulletins  and  books  of  general  value  to  the  pro- 
fession should  be  published  and  sold  at  cost.  A 
promotional  association  must  of  necessity  have 
many  publications. 

The  forthcoming  report  of  the  First  Engineer- 
ing Conference  on  Public  Information  to  be  called 
"Publicity  Methods  for  Engineers"  will  be  the  first 
book  offered. 

Organization  of  Public  Information  Bureau 

The  organization  for  public  information  is  shown 
in  the  accompanying  chart  on  page  178. 

One  Year  Working  Plan 

The  elements  of  the  plan  are: 

1.  Establishing  an  Engineering  Public  Information 

Bureau  in  Chicago. 

2.  The  selection  of  not  to  exceed  six  national  pub- 

licity activities  to  be  promoted  by  concerted  ac- 
tion of  all  the  chapters. 

3.  Assignment  of  a  particular  time  for  the  promo- 

tion of  each  publicity  project,  as  for  example, 
selection  of  one  month  a  year  for  promotion  of 
one  activity,  to  be  followed  by  another  month 
for  the  promotion  of  another  activity. 

4a.  The  division  of  each  publicity  project  into  com- 
ponent parts,  selection  of  subjects,  and  assign- 
ment of  men  in  the  different  parts  of  the  coun- 
try to  prepare  short  articles  on  the  subjects^ 

4b.  The  collection  of  certain  publicity  material  at  one 
central  point  as  at  National  Headquarters  for 
editing  and  for  placing  in  various  publicity 
channels. 


1 84  PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

5a.  Preparation  of  short  articles  by  prominent  mem- 
bers for  use  as  publicity  material  and  distribut- 
ing this  material  to  the  various  chapters. 

5b.  Placing  of  these  publicity  articles  by  the  various 
chapters  in  commonly  accepted  mediums  and 
tying  up  local  activities  with  broad  policies  out- 
lined. 

6.  Co-ordination  of  publicity  activities  with  those  of 

other   organizations   interested   in   the   welfare 
of  engineers. 

7.  Follow-up  of  publicity  by  chapter  action  on  legis- 

lative matters  and  on  local  affairs  in  the  com- 
munity. 

8.  Division  of  the  cost  of  national  publicity  between 

the  various  chapters  and  units  of  the  organiza- 
tion. 

Public  Information  Projects 

The  following  publicity  projects  are  submitted 
as  being  of  broad  public  interest  and  adaptable  to 
almost  all  communities : 

1.  The  development  of  construction  activities. 

2.  Municipal  engineers  as  business  men  and  the  pro- 

tection of  public  health. 

3.  Licensing    of    engineers    as    a    protection   to   the 

public. 

4.  Making  one  dollar  do  the  work  of  two  by  the 

elimination  of  waste  through  engineering  skill. 

5.  A    survey   of    community   needs    in    the    way   of 

public   improvements    in   many   different   com- 
munities. 

6.  The  engineering  features  of  transportation. 

7.  Expert   service   in   government   administration. 

Each  of  these  subjects  can  be  treated  in  an  in- 
finite number  of  ways  and  presented  to  the  public 


A  WORKING  PLAN  185 

in  such  form  that  interest  in  the  work  of  the  engi- 
neers will  be  created. 

It  is  believed  that  more  lasting  and  therefore  bet- 
ter results  will  be  obtained  in  improving  the  status 
of  engineers  by  taking  a  positive  constructive 
viewpoint  as  outlined  above  rather  than  by  em- 
phasizing the  inadequacy  of  engineering  pay  and 
lack  of  appreciation  by  the  public  of  the  work  of 
engineers. 

Just  What  Do  the  Chapters  Get 

The  advantages  of  this  plan  to  the  chapters  and 
members  of  the  Association  may  be  briefly  sum- 
marized as  follows : 

1.  Broadening  the  field  of  activity  of  all  engineers. 

2.  Increased  prestige   of  engineering  profession. 

3.  Co-ordinating  local  with  national  public  informa- 

tion. 

4.  Aid  from  the  central  Public  Information  Bureau 

at    National    Headquarters    approximately    as 
follows : 

(a)  Printed  matter  for  local  distribution  and  mem- 

bership work — free  to  a  limited  extent ;  large 
quantities  at  cost. 

(b)  Placing   of   articles    for   members    in    proper 

magazines  at  cost. 

(c)  Motion  pictures  and  slide  service. 

(d)  Posters  at  cost. 

(e)  Advertising  service  and  advice  for  chapter. 

(f)  Monthly  Service  Letter  for  clip  sheet. 

(g)  Lecture  Bureau  service. 

Until  the  Bureau  begins  to  function  actively  it 
is  difficult  to  predict  what  other  lines  of  service 
will  develop. 


186          PUBLICITY  METHODS  FOR  ENGINEERS 

Results  to  Be  Expected 

The  principal  result  to  be  expected  from  or- 
ganized public  information  work  is  the  advance- 
ment of  the  engineering  profession  and  the  con- 
sequent betterment  of  the  welfare  of  the  individual 
engineer.  A  growth  in  strength  and  prestige  of 
the  Association  will  be  a  by-product. 


K:     ,i£-.^V, 


Research  Information  Service 


HTHE  ultimate  plan  of  the  Research  Information  Service 

•^  of  the  National  Research  Council,  should  include  the 

establishment    of    a    great   general    clearing    house,   with 

branches  in  all  of  the  advanced  nations  of  the  world  as  a 

means  of  protection  against  loss  of  valuable  information. 

Few  needs  are  now  clearer  or  more  urgent  than  efficient 
informational  mechanisms  or  keys  to  knowledge. 

Why  should  we  not  handle  the  packing,  storage,  ship' 
ping,  and  distribution  of  knowledge  as  efficiently  as  we 
manage  commercial  production. 

Largely  because  knowledge  is  discontinuous  and  rela- 
tively unavailable,  history  repeats  itself  endlessly  and  trag- 
ically. Ignorance,  it  would  appear,  is  responsible  for  more 
catastrophies  and  racial  set-backs  than  are  carelessness, 
selfishness,  and  maliciousness  combined. 

The  solemn  duty  rests  upon  us  to  devise  adequate  ways 
and  means  of  carrying  forward  always,  with  continuously 
increasing  accessibility,  the  sum  of  useful  knowledge  and 
experience. 

The  program  of  the  Research  Information  Service  is: 

To  develop  initially  a  general,  public  use  of  such  a 
service. 

To  develop  complete  machinery  for  gathering,  classify- 
ing, locating  when  needed,  and  disseminating  trustworthy 
information. 

To  utilise  every  available  agency  of  communication  to 
meet  the  needs  of  individuals  or  organizations  in  need  of 
information. 

CHARLES  L.  REESE, 
Chemical  Director,  E.  I.  du  Pont  de  Nemours  Company. 

Extract  of  a  talk 

before  the  American  Chemical  Society. 


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